RHETORICAL THEORY ANDTHE CARLISLE INDIAN SCHOOL: CONSIDERATION OF RICHARD HENRY PRATT AND HIS PEDAGOGY

A Thesis

Presented to

the Faculty of the Caudill College of Humanities

Morehead State University

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree

Master of Arts

by

Deborah J. Oesch

November23, 1996

Accepted by the faculty of the Caudill College of Humanities, Morehead State University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree.

Master's Committee:

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RHETORICAL TiiEORY ANDTiiE CARLISLE INDIAN SCHOOL: CONSIDERATION OF RICHARD HENRY PRATT ANO HIS PEDAGOGY

Deborah J. Oesch, M.A. Morehead State University, 1996

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In recent years, NativeAmerican educational issues have come to the

·~ forefront of instructional concerns .. Numerous theorists debate the diverse

learning styles and cultural incompatibility of Native American students

mainstreamed into traditional "Americanized" classrooms. These assertions

are often supported by referencing the histories of Native American education,

claiming that Nineteenth Century schooling was academically inadequate and

culturally threatening to Native American students. While such observations are

helpful, they provide only superficial insights into the structuring and development

ofthese systems, Therefore, extensive consideration ofthosecontrolllng these

systems and their motivations is essential to a reflexive evaluation of previous

Native American educational efforts. Thus, a systematic examination of one

Native American educator, Richard Henry Pratt, and the ideologies influencing

his work, will provide valuable insights into the multiplicity offactors effecting

early, Native American school systems.

Supporting evidence for th is project includes numerous historical over­

views, government documents, educational research, Pratt's personal publica­

tions and studies of prevalent nineteenth-century ideologies. Historical docu­

mentation by Jon Reyhner and Jeanne Eder is supplemented by readings from a

variety of other sources including the recently published work of David Wallace

Adams. In addition, governmental documentation of schooling regulations and

Bureau of Indian Affairs' conference minutes provide insightful clues to the

curricular requirements and instructional regulations governing Pratt's school, the

Carlisle Indian School. Due to a dearth of primary sources, insights into Pratt's

ideology have been gleaned from consideration of dominant rhetorical, theoreti­

cal and educational movements of his age.

This thesis traces the inception of the Native American boarding school

system back to Richard Henry Pratt and his founding of the Carlisle Indian

School in 1879. Pratt's goal was to proyi9e Native American children with the

skills needed to become assimilated into "Americanized" society. He proposed

a half-day work, half-day school schedule to impart vocational and academic

trainingwhile instilling practical habits of learning. Pratt's program succeeded

because it complemented the United States government's deculturation agenda

while catering to the leading ideologies of the late 1800s.

A more probing consideration of factors which may have influenced

Pratt's pedagogy begins in Chapter One. This chapter examines two rhetorical

theories which were prevalent in nineteenth-century American schools-Scottish

Common Sense Realism and Current Traditionalism. This chapter examines

each rhetoric and Its major figures while speculating aboutthe factors implicated

in the rise and eventual fall of each. Chapter Two moves into a focused consid­

eration of Pratt's military and educational careerwilh special emi;ihasis placed

on the founding, cu~culardevelopments, and eventual closure ofthe Carlble '

School. The concluding chapter compares materials from chapters one and

two, demonstrating ties between nineteenth-century rhetorical movements and

Pratt's educational practices. These correlations support the argument that

Pratt's instructional approaches were not haphazardly construed; but, rather,

were consistent With the rhetorical, educational and ideological climates of his day.

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Introduction

In the triumph and turmoil of the post-Civil War period, the age old

"Indian Problem" came to the foreground of United States governmental

concerns. After more than a century of conflict with Native American tribes, a

new approach to quelling hostilities was proposed-civilize the savages. The

plan for civilization was twofold: deculturate the tribes and assimilate them

into mainstream, white society. Americanized education was exalted .as the

vehicle of change that would expedite assimilation efforts. The U.S. Board of

Indian Commissioners reported:

As a savage we cannot tolerate [the Indian] any more than as a

half-civilized parasite, wanderer, or vagabond. The only

alternative left is to fit him by education for civilized life. The

Indian, though a simple child of nature with mental faculties

dwarfed and shriveled, while groping his way for generations in

the darkness of barbarism, already sees the importance of

education. (Reyhner His(qry of Indian Education 194)

Thus, the pursuit of systemized, Native American educational programs

began. In 1878, Richard Henry Pratt proposed a boarding school experiment

which complimented the government's deculturation agenda. Later heralded

as the "Red Man's Moses," Pratt emerged as the primary voice on Native

American educational issues from the late 1880's until his retirement in 1903.

The Carlisle Indian School became the embodiment of his proposal

and served as a model for government boarding school programs. Founded

on November 1, 1879, the Carlisle School was the first off"reservation,

Oesch 2

government funded boarding school for Native American children. Officials

viewed Carlisle as an "educational experiment" to determine the educability

of Native Americans when removed from tribal influences.

Pratt's timely educational proposal met the deman~s of multiple

constituencies. Philanthropists perceived efforts to educate Native Americans

as the key to transforming "noble savages" into "civilized," productive, United

States citizens. Military officials also were growing increasingly concerned

over expenses incurred battling plains tribes, while politicians felt a renewed

pressure from their supporters to address the continuing "Indian Problem."

Education, specifically Pratt's boarding school project, appeared to be the

long sought solution to each of these concerns.

Educators promised that academic instruction and industrial training

would dramatically metamorphose Native American children into

accomplished farmers and factory workers, eager to participate in the body

politic--all for a fraction of the price needed to maintain battle wearied U. S.

military troops. Pratt's theory that children could be more quickly diverted

from tribal ways when removed from family influences distinguished him from

other educators. Pratt's charismatic fervor and widespread philanthropic

support brought his proposal to the forefront of the assimilation agenda.

Regrettably, Native Americans were not consulted regarding the

government's grand educational scheme. This disregard for Native

Americans' rights was consistently demonstrated throughout the nineteenth

century and beyond. Thousands of Native Americans had been killed in the

Indian Wars while others were forced westward as expansionists relentlessly

Oesch 3

pressed toward the Pacific Coast. Settlers and prospectors proclaimed it as

their "Manifest Destiny" to seize Indian territories, imposing Anglo cultural and

religious practices on Native Americans. In the midst of this societal

upheaval, many tribes became the victims of broken treaties and were

interred on reservations. Reservated Native Americans depended on the

government for food due to the virtual extinction of the buffalo and the seizure

of century old hunting grounds, forever changing their nomadic patterns of life.

It was to these conquered_, starving, disease ridden peoples that Pratt

made his initial student recruitment campaign. Pratt visited the Sioux at the

Rosebud and Pine Ridge Reservations meeting with Spotted Tail and other

tribal leaders. He claimed, "If you, yourself, had education you might be

owning the Black Hills ... Because you were not educated, these mountains,

valleys, and streams have passed from you" (Pratt Battlefield 223). As a

result, eighty-four Sioux children were among the one hundred and thirty-six

pupils enrolled in Carlisle's inaugural class (228). As many as 1,200 students

attended the Carlisle Indian School each year until its closure in 1917.

While numerous educators and historians have discussed the plight of

Native American educational programs in the 1800s, few have paid

systematic attention to the ideologies of school reformers like Pratt. This

project proposes to explore Pratt's "ideology" to gain insight into his

"understanding and motivation" (Kaestle 124). The term "ideology" will be

relegated to uses in keeping with Clifford Geertz's article "Ideology as a

Cultural System." He states that ideologies "are, most distinctly, maps of

problematic reality and matrices for the creation of collective conscience" (64).

Oesch 4

Thus, all people display ideological thinking. This may be manifested through

the complexities of evolving governmental legislation, printed personal

statements or the "unuttered social beliefs implicit in individuals' actions"

(Kaestle 125). Geertz clarified his point by noting, "Whether, in any

particular case, the [ideological] map is accurate or the conscience creditable

is a separate question" (64). Therefore, comments regarding Pratt's ideology

will generally be limited to critiques of his compatibility with nineteenth­

century paradigmatic structures rather than judgments of the impropriety of

his agenda.

Consequently, this thesis will trace Native American boarding schools

back to Pratt and the Carlisle School to examine the educational ideologies at

play that ultimately led to the failure of this "educational experiment." Some

critical questions remain: What influences led Pratt to his educational

theories? How did these influences relate to the "manifest destiny" mentality

of the 1800s? Why did Pratt's boarding school experiment appeal to such a

broad spectrum of individuals and agencies? It is the objective of this thesis

to investigate these questions. This project will examine nineteenth-century

rhetorical theories and note how these may have influenced Pratt's ideology

and his boarding school experiment. The following chapters will explore

these issues by noting correlations between major theoretical movements,

nineteenth-century socio-political transformations and Pratt's experiences as

an educator.

Oesch 5

Chapter One will examine two rhetorical theories which were influential

in nineteenth-century American schools--Scottish Common Sense Realism

and Current-Traditionalism. This will include consideration of corresponding

educational theories and prevalent ideologies that influenced the rise of these

rhetorics. Chapter Two will continue by tracing Pratt's military and

educational career in relation to governmental legislation regulating Native

American education. Emphasis will be placed on the founding, curricular

developments and eventual closure of the Carlisle Indian School.

The final chapter will demonstrate ties between Pratt's pedagogy and

nineteenth-century theoretical movements. Correlations will demonstrate

how his philosophy was touched by a wave of Scottish Common Sense

Realism, and his practices toppled by the flood of Current-Traditionalism.

Chapter Three will further propose that Pratt's approaches were not

haphazardly construed or formed in a vacuum. It will be demonstrated that

his views were consistent with the rhetorical, anthropological, educational and

political climates of his day. Likewise, the decline of Pratt's popularity will be

tied to shifts in the intellectual domain toward a mechanistic, assembly-line

mentality.

CHAPTER ONE

The Nature of Rhetoric

Oesch 6

In Writing Instruction in Nineteenth-Century American Colleges, James

A. Berlin defined rhetoric as a "social invention ... [arising] out of a time and

place, a peculiar social context, establishing for a period the conditions that

make a peculiar kind of communication possible" (1). A rhetoric is accepted

because of its compatibility with the prevailing mood and temperament of an

era and changes to accommodate social conditions. Berlin also noted that

no rhetoric is permanent nor is it embraced by all peoples at the same time.

In fact, multiple rhetorics may be in competition for societal allegiances (ix, 1).

This variance adds to the complexity of discussing the prevalent rhetorics of

any given age.

All rhetorics are based on conceptions of human nature and reality, the

knower and the known, and the nature of language. Rhetorical systems differ

in the way each defines these conceptions. Walter J. Ong termed the

conceptions underlying a rhetoric as a noetic field. Berlin described this as:

A closed system defining what can, and cannot, be known; the

nature of the knower; the nature of the relationship between the

knower, the known, and the audience; and the nature of

language (Writing 2).

Therefore, the noetic field underlying a rhetoric determines how the four

rhetorical elements--reality, writer/speaker, audience, and language-are

perceived and defined. Established ideas about the nature of these elements

Oesch 7

and how they work together create "the codification of the unspeakable as

well as the speakable," otherwise known as a rhetorical system.

Consequently, rhetoric is at the center of a culture's activities and is ultimately

implicated in all a !30ciety attempts (Berlin Writing 1,2). Since rhetoric also

serves as an indicator of change in a society, careful consideration of

nineteenth-century rhetorical movements will help to situate Richard Henry.

Pratt's position on Native American education and provide an explanation for

later disillusionment with his educational theories.

Nineteenth-Century Rhetorical Movements

Two major rhetorical movements contributed to the rise and eventual

fall of the Carlisle Indian School-Scottish Common Sense Realism and

Current-Traditional Rhetoric. Scottish Common Sense Realism flourished in

the United States from the beginning of the 1800s through the Civil War

period. It was influenced chiefly by the works of Hugh Blair and George

Campbell. These rhetoricians maintained a mechanistic view of reality that

was positivistic in nature. Current-Traditionalism was strongly influenced by

Scottish Common Sense Realism, but relegated its approaches to only the

most mechanistic features of Blair and Campbell. Its three major voices

included Adams Sherman Hill, Barrett Wendell and John Franklin Genung.

Prior to providing an indepth review of these two rhetorics, it seems

advantageous to examine the noetic field contributing to the successes of each.

Scottish Common Sense Realism was formed in contentious rebellion

to the English educational model which limited studies to classical courses

and catered to the well-born, well-bred elite. In the 1800s, American

Oesch 8

educational proponents mimicked this trend. This may be attributed to the

similarities between eighteenth-century Scotland and the fledgling American

nation. First, it is important to recognize the political correlations. Both

Scotland and the United States had a history of conflict with England, but

Scotland succumbed to English rule. The 1707 Act of Union joined Scotland

to England and yielded Scottish political and economic independence

(Horner 85). Yet, the Scots fiercely maintained their educational freedom. In

contrast to the English model of education, the Scottish approach contained a

philosophic and democratic flavor compatible with the United States' socio­

political atmosphere and was consistent with views of equality and

individualism flourishing in early America.

Second, Scottish universities were rooted in a contentious concern for

democratic and humanistic values. This led to a strong liberal arts program

designed to cultivate an informed citizenry. Renowned Scottish educator

George Jardine noted that education should prepare "young men destined to

fill various and very different situations in life" (Horner 88). Unlike the

English, Scots did not exclude students seeking non-professional

occupations and encouraged even "lower class" citizens to pursue an

education. Francis Jeffrey defended this system against criticism from Dr.

Ben Johnson asserting, "I think it is a great good on the whole, because it

enables relatively large numbers of people to get ... that knowledge which

tends to liberalise and make intelligent the mass of our population" (Homer 87).

Oesch 9

The Scottish system attained this goal by providing mass, democratic,.

liberal education. Students at Edinburgh and Glasgow received exposure to

a variety of courses including Newtonian theories, German philosophy,

economics and agriculture. This breadth of disciplinary instruction appeared

to be indicative of Scottish schools which also were among the first to include

studies in medicine and English literature (Horner 86). 1

Much like the Scots, educators in the United States upheld democratic

values by attempting to make education available to all citizens and

incorporating liberal studies programs. 2 This approach was in keeping with a

new emphasis on the "equality of man" and a rising admiration for the "self­

made man." These views were intrinsically rooted in Constitutionally based

notions of human equality and stemmed from a "republican polity" which

valued individual character, personal industry and private ownership of

property and businesses (Kaestle 128). American educators perpetuated

these beliefs in individualism and equality, owing much of their independent

philosophy to eighteenth-century Scottish influences.

Scottish educators had deftly opposed the English system of education

and defended the validity of liberal arts instruction rather than classical

specialization (Horner 87,88). The Scots also supported "rhetoric,

discussion, and writing as a way of learning in conjunction with lectures" (87).

In support of rhetorical instruction, one educator further noted, "A man may

be capable of great reflection, but if he cannot communicate it to others, it

can be of but little use" (88). Consequently, rhetoric retained a central role in

the Scottish arts program.

Oesch 10

Scottish Common Sense Realism

The Scottish School of Philosophy and the doctrine of "common

sense" paved the way for the coming rhetoric, appropriately termed, Scottish

Common Sense Realism. Theories of human nature developed by John

Locke and David Hume profoundly influenced the Scottish School. Locke

had argued that the human mind was a tabula rasa or blank slate and could

only be developed through experiences with the external world. In this

model, the mind was made up of two major faculties, the understanding and

the will. The understanding was thought to be cultivated through the

associative principle of ideas. Ideas were produced through reflection on

sensory experiences. Associations or connections made between new and

previous ideas, in turn, produced an understanding of things. Action was

produced when the will was compelled to act on a prior understanding. Belief

in this process was referenced as a mechanistic faculty psychology because

it noted the independent or mechanistic functions of each of the human

faculties. Later, David Hartley, author of Observations on Man, His Frame,

His Duty, and His Expectations (1749). added memory, imagination and

affection to Locke's list of faculties (Golden 9-11). This expanded list

composed the primary faculties of human nature as recognized by Scottish

philosophers.

A second epistemological theme influencing eighteenth-century

rhetoric was the doctrine of "common sense." Thomas Reid interpreted

"common sense" to be a scientific phenomenon that occurred when self­

evident laws of nature were recognized and understood (Golden 11, 12).

Oesch 11

He felt that these phenomenons were trans-cultural, thus providing a point of

common judgment between peoples of all nations. These commonalities

were noted as "the first-born of reason" and served as the final arbiter of

disputes, especially those involving judgment and taste (12).

The rhetoric resulting from a union between the Scottish School of

philosophy and the doctrine of "common sense" first impacted the Scottish

educational system in the 1700s and, in turn, dominated American

educational trends in the 1800s. Scottish Common Sense Realism (SCSR)

was derived from this fervor for a a philosophically grounded, democratic

educational system. This rhetorical movement was uniquely compatible with

Scottish, and later American, "economic, religious and even aesthetic

experiences" (Berlin Writing 6).

SCSR was based on principles of human nature consistent with the

Empirical philosophy of Locke and Hurne, and, therefore, was in conscious

opposition to Scholasticisrn (Berlin Writing 20; Golden 9, 10). This rhetoric was

mechanical in nature locating reality in the external world (Berlin Writing 62).

Reality, in this paradigm, existed in two distinct realms: the spiritual and the

material. The spiritual was deemed most important, but transcended

discussions. This was due to the belief that perception and understanding of

the spiritual were intensely personal, between the individual and God, and

existed beyond the language needed for disclosure.

The material realm could be understood through experiences with the

world of sensory data. Reality was discovered through observation. This

placed particular faith in the senses' response to external stimuli.

Oesch 12

Observance of the material world, like the spiritual, was seen as a personal

endeavor and held little regard for others' observations. This perspective

maintained that ideas were produced from the literal impressions that sensory

data made on the mind (Berlin Writing 6,7). Thus, observers gained

understanding of the world by making associations between new impressions

and past ideas. This mechanistic view was derived from Locke's doctrine of

association which enabled reason to unite ideas that may otherwise seem

unrelated (Golden 9).

To communicate an idea, the writer or speaker recreated the

experience by appealing to an audience's faculties. Clearly recounting all the

details of an experience was an essential part of effective communication.

This led to an emphasis on style to reproduce the "content of experience in

the minds of the audience" (Berlin Writing 8). But instilling an understanding

of experience served no purpose without the assurance that associations

could be made with prior ideas. Hence, the rational process needed

reinforcement through an emotional appeal. Hume suggested that the

emotional appeal would initiate action by relating a past "lively idea" with a

"present impression." Promoters of SCSR consented to Hume's claim that

"reason is and ought to be the slave of the passions" by emphasizing appeals

to the senses and faculties (Golden 10). 3 Blair and Campbell thought this

was best accomplished through persuasive oratory because it addresses itself

to the total person (Berlin Writing 62).

Oesch 13

Accordingly, SCSR rejected the syllogism on the grounds that it did not

demonstrate or strengthen connections between ideas. The power of

inference was declared "a talent given to man by God" which made it

possible to determine if perceived associations were coherent (Golden 9).

Thus, SCSR consciously opposed Aristotelian logic and deduction in lieu of

scientific logic and induction. The experimental and highly personalized

nature of induction predicated a rejection of Aristotle's finite number of truths

as well as his concepts regarding large universal truths. In the Scottish

Common Sense Realist's perspective, truth existed beyond language, apart

from the signs used to express it (Berlin Writing 21). Rhetors swayed from

classical attempts to communicate truth in exchange for attaining a desired

response from the audience. The purpose of written or oral discourse in this

model was to appeal to experience in order to gain the assent of the will (8).

Supporters of SCSR adhered to Locke's assertion that the will was the

"principle determinant of action" (Golden 9, 10). Advocates of SCSR-most

notably Hugh Blair and George Campbell--became the controlling voices in

eighteenth-century American writing classes.

Hugh Blair

Hugh Blair (1718-1800) was the most popular SCSR rhetor of the

seventeenth century. Born in Edinburgh, Blair received his M.A. degree from

the University of Edinburgh in 1739 and accepted his first pastorate in 1742.

By 1758 his eloquent preaching ''won his appointment to the most prestigious

pulpit in Scotland, the High Church at St. Giles" (Go!den 23). Blair embarked

on his teaching career in 1760. Due to the widespread acclaim of his lecture

Oesch 14

series, George Ill named Blair the first Regius Professor of Rhetoric and

Belles Lettres at the University of Edinburgh in 1762 (24). The circulation of

ill-construed class notes led Blair to publish his lectures on the eve of his

retirement in 1783. His text, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres, provided

a practical guide to rhetoric. It was printed in sixty-two complete editions and

fifty-one abridgments during its first century of circulation (140).

In Lecture I, Blair recognized rhetoric as the most highly cultivated art

form in the civilized world (Blair 30). This belletristic bias appealed to the

American nationalistic desire to develop a cultural identity and foster a

"unique American poetic voice" (Berlin Writing 25). Blair's lectures also

served as the primary text for American literary studies courses through 1835

due to his inclusion of literary criticism.

On a whole, Blair sought to provide a practical means to propagate

rhetorical development. Therefore, his text proved to be more instructional

than theoretical in nature. He maintained a firm grounding in SCSR. Blair

argued that rhetorical precepts grew for the principles of human nature. He

also held to the empirically based assumption that individuals gained

understanding through observation and personal experience. Blair's primary

contribution to education--using literature to study composition--stemmed

from this assumption. Since all understanding was experientially based, a

person was unable to properly compose without first reading and

understanding the compositions of others. Blair firmly maintained that a

student who mastered the "principles of literary criticism ... [would] have

mastered the principles necessary to produce a text" (Berlin Writing 8).

Oesch 15

In keeping with this perspective, invention existed outside the realm of

rhetoric. Blair claimed that invention came only "from a thorough knowledge

of the subject, and profound meditation." He further stated, "I am afraid it is

beyond the power of !!rt to give any real assistance" with invention (Berlin

Writing 26). In fact, Blair offered very few suggestions to enhance the writing

process outside of his interest in style.

This obsession with style led Blair to create practical methods for

maintaining English "purity". He stressed perspicuity and precision as key

issues to attaining an eloquent style (Blair 66). The chapter entitled

"Directions for Forming a Style" covered six points on style development.

First, familiarity with the subject was essential. Since imitation was not a part

of the composing process, prior knowledge was of utmost importance. Next,

he prescribed frequent practice in composition. Third, he belabored the

necessity of being acquainted with the writings of others. Points four and five

warned students not to imitate others' style and admonished them to adapt

their style to the audiences' needs. He concluded with a warning not to

become engrossed in the issues of style "as to detract from a higher degree

of attention to the thoughts" (86).

Blair's pedagogical contributions proved to be more long standing than

his instructions on composition. He saw the educator's mission as two fold-­

to discipline the student through drills and exercises and to give general

principles to which the student must strictly adhere. Consequently, Blair

emphasized memorizing and translating in the practice of speaking and

writing English because "mental discipline" could be strengthened like

Oesch 16

muscles through exercise (Berlin Writing 31). His insistence on frequent

writing assignments and integration of literature into composition studies

dominated approaches to teaching writing in the nineteenth and early

twentieth centuries. Blair's practical teachings were profoundly influenced by

the theoretical notions of his contemporary and friend, George Campbell.

George Campbell

George Campbell (1719-1796) was born in Scotland and attended

Marischal College prior to his ordination in 1746. In 1759 Campbell became

Principal of Marischal and was elected Professor of Divinity in 1771.

Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric was more theoretically oriented than

Blair's text and profoundly influenced his contemporaries. 4 After its

publication in 1776, it reached the public through twenty-one major editions

(Golden 139, 140).

Campbell saw rhetoric as science, based on a scientific body of

principles, grounded in human nature. He recognized "certain principles in

our nature, which, when properly addressed and managed, give ... aid to

reason" (Campbell 205). Campbell labeled these four principles or faculties:

understanding, imagination, memory and passions. He asserted that an

argument must first and foremost be understood by the audience.

Information was therefore shaped by the "capacity, education, and attainment

of the hearers" (205). When describing imagination, Campbell referenced

"those qualities in ideas which gratify fancy, are vivacity, beauty, sublimity,

[and] novelty" (206). For an orator's success, the understanding and

Oesch 17

imagination had to tap into memory, thus making the necessary associations

to produce convictions.

Note that Campbell viewed these faculties as functioning

independently of one another. Each had to be influenced by a separate, but

equally mechanistic, real world stimuli. So, a speech could not venture into

persuasive discourse until the understanding, imagination and memory had

been tapped. "If it is fancy which bestows brilliancy on our ideas, if it is

memory which gives them stability, passion doth more, it animates them"

(210). Campbell made the passions of primary importance to his rhetoric.

Discussion of the passions comprised eight of twelve sections in Chapter VII

of the Philosophy of Rhetoric.

Campbell's mechanistic view noted real world principles which

correlated to each of the mental faculties. He then suggested which

approaches were best suited to address these various principles. This gave

rise to one of the earliest arguments for forms of discourse. "[E]xposition

appeal[ed] to the understanding; narration, description, and poetry to

imagination; argumentation to reason; and persuasion to all of these, but

especially to the emotions and the will" (Berlin Writing 7, 8). He also asserted

the value of oral delivery to better influence the emotions and will.

Knowledge was extralingual in this mechanistic faculty psychology.

Truth was discovered through careful observation and meaning was located

in the sensory experience itself. Consequently, Campbell was consciously

opposed to Aristotelian logic, focusing instead "on a 'knowledge of things'

gained by examining nature" (Berlin Writing 20). Like Blair, invention was

Oesch 18

taken out of Campbell's rhetoric and arrangement was barely·addressed. He

claimed that rhetoric's primary concern was "with shaping the message

discovered outside the composing process so that it had the desired effect on

the audience" (21). This "message" could be learned through sensation,

memory and imagination, as noted earlier, but could only be reproduced

through concrete language (23). This led to his emphasis on style,

sprinkling his text with terms like perspicuity, energy, and vivacity (8).

Campbell's concern then moved from conveyance and style to proper

usage. He realized usage was a matter of social custom and considered it

"under three heads: reputable use, national use, and present use" (Berlin

Writing 23). Stressing the need for grammatical purity, Campbell also

devoted a section to the woes of barbarisms, solecism and impropriety. Bliss

Perry, Professor of English at Harvard from 1907 to 1930, observed that

Campbell's "idea of correctness ... was an impossible and sterile idea; it

strove for a correctness which never existed on sea or land" (Brereton 302). s

Though not as popular as Blair, the theoretical and psychological

nature of Campbell's text laid the groundwork for the coming rhetoric,

Current-Traditionalism. In the meantime, Blair and Campbell enjoyed

widespread success from the early 1800s through the Civil War period. Their

texts were the standard curriculum in American college writing classrooms

during this time. Following the war, Samuel P. Newman and Henry Day rose

to influence. Berlin recognized these rhetoricians as "American Imitators" of

Scottish Realism because their views and practices were so closely aligned

with Blair and Campbell's. "The Americans who ventured into the field--

Oesch 19

primarily clergymen, since American colleges were run by clergymen-were

operating within a pervasive [SCSR] paradigm" (Berlin Writing 35). Still, their

texts escorted Scottish Realism into the classroom and played a crucial role

in secondary and college level curriculum through the 1880s.

Scottish Common Sense Realism

in America

The noetic field at the base of SCSR complimented the postbellum

academic community by accommodating prevailing societal expectations.

Historian Carl F. Kaestle states that the ideology of mid-nineteenth-century

America "centered on republicanism, Protestantism, and capitalism"--what he

terms "native, Protestant ideology" or traditional, Protestant ideology (127,

128). These three sources of belief were so "intertwined" and "mutually

supporting" that, Kaestle assents, "it [is not] useful or accurate to use them as

separate sub-headings for areas of belief and conduct" (127). Ironically,

those who opposed any feature of this tri-structural ideology were accused of

undermining the entire system and, thereby, hastily dismissed.

This "blessed trinity" undergirded ideals of individualism, societal

morality, economic prosperity, the supremacy of euroamerican culture, and

the "grandeur of American destiny" (Kaestle 128). Conformers to this

ideology were "promised meritocracy, education, material progress, and

cultural superiority" (134). Kaestle asserts that the "cosmopolitan" strain of

this movement advocated "government action to provide schooling that would

be more common, more equal, more dedicated to public policy, and therefore

more effective in creating cultural and political values of Protestantism,

Oesch 20

republicanism, and capitalism" (135). SCSR was cradled snugly beneath

these unwritten social mandates.

The interdependent nature of this ideology, and its adherence to

Hume's theory of cause and effect, contributed to a reductionist mentality.

Empirically based, this view claimed that:

From the perception of individual things, the mind readily

advances to the thought of classes of things: detecting

throughout the world resemblances and contrasts, laws and

principles, causes and effects; it begins to group things together,

to generalize, to discover qualities essential and qualities

accidental, to form, in a word, scientific conceptions of things.

(Berlin Writing 66)

Reductionism resolved that "everything is correctable" if properly submerged

in traditional, Protestant culture. Consequently, each problem that stood in

the way of America's "manifest destiny" could be resolved through governmental

intrusion, adoption of the capitalistic work ethic or a good dose of religion.

The inter-reliance of this system was due to the nature of the

supporting noetic field. This common foundation contributed to accentuating

likenesses between parties, despite their obvious differences. Kaestle traces

the correlations explaining that:

Oesch 21

Protestant Christianity favored republicanism, republicanism

emphasized individual industry, industry required private

property, private property provided opportunity, which spurred

initiative, which in turn fueled progress, which demonstrated

the superiority of Protestant culture. (134)

Therefore, citizenship, hard work, success, wealth and eternal bliss were

proclaimed as part of the chain-reaction promise of traditional, Protestant

ideology. This set a precedent for the spirit of national expansionism which

sparked the Mexican War, Indian Wars, and heated the flames that led to the

Civil War. Many deemed it "the will of God" for the United States to attain

control of all of North America. This expansionist mentality was spurred on

by a free economy and booming industrial opportunities that situated America

as the "New Canaan."

To further illustrate this point, Kaestle quotes from Thomas King's

1850 sermon honoring capitalism (railroad expansion), God and family.

Providence had another and higher use for those iron tracks and

flying trains. After the mercantile heart had devised and

secured them, God took them for his own purposes; he used

them to quicken the activity of men; to multiply cities and

villages, studded with churches, dotted with schools and filled

with happy homes and budding souls; to increase the wealth

which shall partially be devoted to his service. (133)

Ironically, the recitation of these and similar values by preachers, politicians

and educators inevitably contributed to the continued marginalization of

Oesch 22

Indians, Jews, African-Americans, poor whites and others excluded from this

paradigm. The unseen paradox beneath traditional, Protestant ideology was

the ongoing exclusion of individuals outside white, Anglo-Saxon, Protestant

circles. Even those who recognized this paradox often resorted to actions

which were culturally biased. Well-intended missionaries, philanthropists and

educators stepped in to abolish any racial barriers by stressing the equality of

all humanity, then called for mass conformity and cultural assimilation.

Supporters of de-culturalization efforts often referred to Lewis Henry

Morgan's theory of social evolution to justify rash assimilation efforts.

Morgan was the most recognized anthropologist in late nineteenth­

century America. His promotion of social evolution was widely accepted "as

the general explanation of human development" (Hoxie 17). This view

described the movement of human history from "simplicity to complexity."

Morgan taught that "societal development occurred in three stages-­

savagery, barbarism, and civilization--and that all people could be placed in

one of these levels" (17, 18). His theory further intimated that societies who

did not advance, would move toward extinction--thus the popularized

reference to Indians as the 'Vanishing Americans."

While social evolution did not necessitate an inequity among the races,

it placed highest value on democratic-capitalistic, "civilized" ideals. Thereby,

Native Americans, African Americans, and other members of the underclass

were prodded into educational programs designed to speed their

advancement up the social evolutionary scale. Educational supporters were

compelled to lead those from "underdeveloped" cultures on this treacherous

Oesch 23

journey, firmly believing that failed efforts would result in the literal death of

an ethnic enclave. Thus, cultural genocide was the salient aim of schools

programs for Native American, as well as African American, children.

By the early 1880s, institutions catering to the und~rclass frequently

integrated Calvin Woodward's new theories of manual education. Woodward

was a professor at Washington University in St. Louis when he published his

theories espousing the use of vocational training to instill habits of learning.

He advocated "symmetrical training" which included exposing students to

"habits of work and concentration that could be transferred to academic

areas" (Hoxie 68). In keeping with the spirit of SCSR, his approach did not

negate the value of liberal arts education. In fact, Woodward suggested that

a blending of vocational and academic instruction would enhance intellectual

endeavors by honing a student's ability to reason or use "common sense."

One could speculate that Woodward's theory also influenced programming at

Indian schools in the 1880s.

While most institutions continued to offer only vocational or academic

tracks (not both), government funded Native American boarding schools

found it beneficial to blend the two. The students attended class a portion of

the day, then participated in vocational training. During their on-the-job

training, students assisted with the daily operational needs of the institution

and produced mercantile products sold to help fund programming. This

approach to Native American education, proposed and implemented by

Richard H. Pratt, was heralded as the key to minority assimilation. Initially

implemented at the Carlisle Indian School, it became the model for over

Oesch 24

twenty-five off-reservation Native American boarding schools as well as

influencing the Hampton school which educated ex-slaves.

However, by the last decade of that century, the popularity of Pratt's

"educational experiment" was beginning to wane. Some educators who

opposed this system stated that it was unrealistic to provide minorities with

any knowledge that did not have direct correlations to manual employment.

These argued that even if these students had the capacity to learn, which

was widely disputed, they would never be accepted into white-collar positions

due to prejudices againstthe Native American peoples. One opponent of

minority education efforts noted, "If you give them so much education, they

won't want to pick crops for a living" (Cardenas 380).

As a consequence of this change, William Hailman, Commissioner of

Indian Affairs in 1894, promised to replace Pratt's holistic approach with a

vocationally oriented curriculum. He initiated this project by pledging to

replace "schoolroom pedantry" with "really vital work" (Hoxie 180). Yet this

re-evaluation of educational programming did not appear to be the result of

isolated change. On the contrary, disillusionment with Pratt's idealistic

educational views seems to have been indicative of a shift away from

traditional, Protestant ideology.

The Fall of Scottish Common Sense Realism

Following the postbellum period, American higher education started to

undergo tremendous change. "Most schools began to see themselves as

serving the needs of business and industry. Citizens demanded it, students

demanded it, and, more important, business leaders--the keepers of the

Oesch 25

funds--demanded it" (Berlin Writing 60). Colleges filled positions traditionally

held by clergymen with men of affairs. Many of these leaders responded to

the needs of a growing economy by catering to a new, scientific world view.

Thus, educators began preparing students for this life, rather than the next

(58, 59, 61 ).

These changes in socio-political conditions preceded the shift to

Current-Traditional rhetoric. While the new noetic field embraced Scottish

realism, it rejected the Scottish educational model in favor of the new German

one (Berlin Writing 59). Transition to the new model necessitated a

redefinition of purpose and new curriculum. Educators who once stressed

mental discipline and breadth of exposure to train the mental faculties now

purposed to "individualize and specialize" (Berlin Writing 60, Leupp 121).

This approach emphasized an individual's ability to succeed when

unhindered by institutional indoctrination and time-consuming course work

unrelated to occupational pursuits. The result of this new "job oriented"

education was the elective system. Under this system, students had the

liberty to select their classes, and could limit academic exposure to areas of

personal interest. This contributed to the continuing emphasis on the

"meritocracy of middle class professionalism" by combining the individualistic

insistence on excellence with the capitalistic demand for numbers (Berlin

Rhetoric 36; Writing 60).

The elective system obviously led to the re-negotiation of disciplinary

boundaries. Departments were developed to address the sciences and other

new areas of study, while the study of rhetoric was sub-divided among

Oesch 26

several courses. Berlin noted this move as the "manifestation of the

assembly line in education" (Writing 62). Oratory and persuasion were

relegated to speech classes, later to be housed in Communication

Departments. Creative writing, poetry and other appeals to the imagination

and emotion were addressed by the literature division of the English

Department. Composition courses addressed the remaining faculties,

understanding and reason (Berlin Writing 59-63).

The German model relegated Scottish Common Sense Realists'

philosophy into compartmentalized concepts. Once these theories had been

reduced to bite-size pieces, they could be antiseptically dissected. That

which was deemed excessive was discarded, leaving only a bare mechanism

to operate the intricacies of language, writer/speaker and reality. This "bare

bones" mentality was at the center of current-traditionalism.

Current-Traditional Rhetoric

Current-Traditionalism may be called the first truly American rhetoric. a

It began at Harvard in 1891 when a Board of Overseerers was asked to

evaluate the English A course. The Board concluded that Freshmen writing

skills were deplorable. These findings were printed in the Harvard Reports

and focused on the most obvious surface issues of students' texts: spelling,

grammar, usage, and even handwriting (Berlin Writing 61 ). These reports

dramatically shaped conceptions about composing and influenced the texts

of Sherman Hill, Barrett Wendell and John Franklin Genung.

Oesch 27

Current-Traditional rhetoric, like SCSR, located reality in the external

world. Thereby, reality could be discovered and validated through scientific

methodologies. In this paradigm, truth was observable and existed "prior to

the individuals perception of it" (Berlin Rhetoric 36). Therefore, current­

traditionalism, often referred to as the scientistic approach, served as a

"rational and empirical appeal" to the appropriate faculty (Berlin Writing 66).

It also accepted the mechanistic faculty psychology indicative of SCSR, but

"removed ethical and all but the most elementary emotional considerations"

from the rhetorical domain (63). Consequently, this approach limited the

scope of appeals to the understanding and reason. The highest

manifestations of these appeals were found in exposition and argument.

To successfully create an expository or argumentative appeal, the

writer was to "rid self of the trappings of culture which distort perceptions" and

operate as an objective, detached observer (Berlin Writing 63). This

information, collected through inductive methods, was to be reported (not

interpreted) in a straight-forward style. Invention, in the Aristotelian sense,

did not play a role in composition because science observed rather than

invented meaning. The audience was also disregarded. An objective writer

should not be swayed from the truth to accommodate the audience. Style ·

was the key to good composition (63, 64).

To attain the correct style, a writer was to recreate an experience

through a logical appeal to the appropriate faculty--reason or understanding.

"Sign and thing were arbitrarily connected, and the writer's task [was] to

select the sign that best captured and contained the thing in-itself'

Oesch 28

(Berlin Writing 63). Therefore, "good" style could be summed up as finding

the "best" words to match an observed phenomenon.

Barrett Wendell's text, English Composition, best situated the current­

traditional emphasis on style. In the Introduction, Wendell, allocated Style as

the "term which shall express the whole subject under consideration" (3). He

further noted, "As critics of style we must not concern ourselves with

substance ... and confine ourselves to considering how [the writer] has

expressed it" (x). After relegating all of composition studies to a discussion of

style, Wendell addressed the three necessary components of style. These

components included: clearness, the text must be understandable; force, the

ability to hold one's attention; and elegance, the part of style that pleases

taste (193-272). Close attention to style obviously echoed Blair and

Campbell's concern for perspicuity and precision. These issues were

consistently addressed by A. S. Hill and Genung as well as Wendell. Like the

rhetoric of their predecessors, current-traditionalists' preoccupation with style

led to the discussion of modes of discourse: narration, description, exposition,

and argument.

Ironically, current-traditionalists swayed from Scottish Realist's

infatuation with persuasion as the highest form of rhetorical art. Genung

recognized persuasion as one of the modes of discourse, then banished it

from the rhetorical domain. He claimed that persuasion necessitated "close

contact of personal presence" and presupposed a speaker in close proximity

to the audience (Berlin Writing 67). This limitation to an oral model excluded

Oesch 29

persuasion from Genung's writing based rhetoric. A. S. Hill also dismissed

the importance of persuasion by listing it as a sub-class under argument.

Meanwhile, Wendell eliminated persuasion and the rest of the modes from

his text, choosing instead to focus on the building-blocks of style: words,

sentences and paragraphs.

In keeping with the mechanistic, faculty psychology of current­

traditionalism, Wendell stated that "words are the names by which good use

has agreed that we shall describe ideas" (41 ). Emulating Campbell, he noted

the woes of using Barbarisms and/or Impropriety, then stressed careful

consideration of the denotation (thing named) and connotation (thing

suggested) of words selected. Next, Wendell defined a sentence as a "series

of words so composed as to make good sense" (76). Further elaboration

included strict grammatical correctness; principles of Unity, Mass and

Cohesion; and, again, the effects of both connotations and denotations. The

paragraph was the third structural necessity addressed. Adopting Alexander

Bain's position, Wendell claimed, "A paragraph is to a sentence what a

sentence is to a word" (120). 1 He stressed maintaining central ideas,

placing key points "conspicuously," and the "unmistaken relation of one

sentence to the. next" (viii).

A. S. Hill and Genung also accentuated the essentials of word,

sentence and paragraph construction. The topic of arrangement was central

to this discussion. While invention was deemed outside of the composing

process, the inventio of management or arrangement was of primary concern

to issues of unity and coherence. a Practical teachings on arrangement

Oesch 30

were included. Students were encouraged to "select a subject, narrow a

thesis, make an outline of the essay, write the essay and edit it for

correctness" (Berlin Writing 74). This approach relied on an empirical view of

rationale to insure the logical order and progression of ideas.

Donald Steward quoted Richard Young's summarization of "the most

salient features of current-traditional rhetoric" as:

Emphasis on the composed product rather than the composing

process; the analysis of discourse into words, sentences, and

paragraphs; the classification of discourse into description,

narration, exposition, and argument; the strong concern with

usage (syntax, spelling, punctuation) and with style.

("Some History Lessons" 16)

The reductionist tendencies of current-traditionalism were not only telling of

changes in college writing classrooms, but positivistic trends in American

society. This surge of scientifically and technologically based ideologies had

a profound influence on late nineteenth-century educational systems-­

including government funded, Native American educational programs.

Oesch 31

Chapter Two

This Chapter will examine Native American education from 1879 to

1918. Special emphasis will be given to Richard Henry Pratt and his

educational philosophy. This will include close attention to the political, social

and educational influenpes which affected the founding of the Carlisle Indian

School in 1879. Due to the vital roles played by Bureau of Indian Affairs

(BIA) officials, a chart listing administrations and corresponding legislation

can be found in Appendix A, page 114.

In recent years, numerous authors have examined the plight of Native

Americans attending the government boarding school system. A variety of

aspects have been considered including failed assimilation efforts and socio­

political factors influencing these institutions. Notable historians such as Jon

Reyhner, Jeanne Eder, Fredrick Hoxie and Francis Leupp have addressed

key political and educational figures contributing to the Indian educational

system. Yet David Wallace Adams' text, Education for Extinction: American

Indians and the Boarding School Experience, 1875-1928, published in 1995,

is one of the most comprehensive resources on off-reservation Indian

boarding schools. Wallace provides a thorough consideration of R. H. Pratt,

the inception of his Carlisle experiment and also examines anthropological

theories prevalent in the nineteenth century.

At the onset of this chapter, it is important to point out that the Carlisle

School's opening appears to have been symptomatic of the United States

Government's attempts to address the century old "Indian Problem" through

Oesch 32

"Americanized" education. Evidence suggests that Pratt's efforts were

overseen by the BIA and were heavily influenced by Congress and the

War Department.

Government Policies

In 1866, several Native American leaders meeting with Washington

officials were given a prophetic glimpse of the future. "The Great Spirit has

decreed that nothing will stop this glorious clearing of land and building of

cities all over the country" ('World Apart" 14). This proclamation, spoken by

Secretary of Interior Columbus Delano, warned of the coming wave of white

settlers. What Delano did not foresee was the trail of inhumane government

policies, broken treaties and senseless slaughter that would be left in the

wake of westward expansion.

After years of vicious fighting, the United States government turned to

a more subtle weapon--education. Peace keepers saw themselves as

trading education for land (Reyhner History of Indian Education 40).

Thereby, monies to fund Native American education were designated in

treaties and incorporated into annuities. U.S. officials guaranteed tribal

leaders that education would bring equality, prosperity and peace. Yet what

was promised to insure the salvation of a people necessitated the death of

their culture.

The tendency to view education as the solution to tribal/ U.S.

governmental conflicts evolved out of previous encounters between Christian

missionaries and Native Americans. Education was initially espoused as a

civilizing force by Catholics and Protestants. Their evangelical fervor led to

Oesch 33

the establishment of numerous schools for Native American children and

adults. Missionaries' successes contributed to the government's educational

interests. In 1819, Congress passed the Indian Civilization Act providing

partial funding to those, including church affiliates, willing to work as

educators among the Indians (Reyhner History of Indian Education 27). This

Act marked the beginning of the government's financial commitment to Native

American education.

Finances proved to be a key motivating factor. Through countless

conflicts and the loss of both Native American and Anglo lives, the

government had discovered that educating Indians was notably more cost

effective than fighting them (Dawes 29). Officials felt that "by educating the

children of these tribes in the English language ... differences would

[disappear], and civilization would [follow] at once" (Atkins "English

Language" 198). This cultural genocide was simple, cost efficient and also

more palatable to traditional, Protestant ideologies than perpetuating the

mass slaughter of the Indian Wars.

Research suggests that nineteenth-century political generosity toward

Native American education often masked the U. S. obsession with westward

expansion. Establishment of the trans-continental railroad and telegraph

seemed to testify to the taming of the vast frontier. One final obstacle

remained--"barbarous" natives. Education was promoted as the ticket to

"civility." Yet achieving U.S. "manifest destiny" necessitated not only the

civilization of, but also the relocation of eastern tribes. s

Oesch 34

The Bureau's relocation efforts were vindicated by Chief Justice John

Marshall. In 1831 Marshall had declared that Native Americans were "in a

state of pupilage; their relation to the United States resembled that of a ward

to his guardian" (Hoxie 214). Thus, the BIA emerged as counsel and

executor overseeing tribal monies, land and other peripheral issues while

continuing to serve as negotiator between the U. S. and its "wards." 10

Statesmen of that day rarely, if ever, addressed the complex

motivating factors behind the founding of reservation schools. They also

appeared to overlook conflicting agendas at work within the BIA-that is,

functioning as Indian advocate while operating under the guise of the War

Department. Yet some opposing interests apparently were noted. As a

result, in 1849, the BIA was passed from the military department to the newly

developed Department of Interior. This move made a logical division

between the BIA and the War Department, yet the two appear to have

continued close collaborations on Native American educational issues until

the early 1900s.

In 1867 the Peace Commission, appointed by President Grant, called

for what has been interpreted as "cultural, and specifically linguistic,

genocide" (Reyhner "History of Indian Education" 41 ). They suggested that

"schools should be established, which [Native American] children should be

required to attend; their barbarous dialect should be blotted out and the

English language substituted" (Atkins "English Language" 198-99). The

Peace Commission proceeded to assert:

Oesch 35

Through sameness of language is produced sameness of

sentiment and thought; custom and habits are molded and

assimilated in the same way, and thus in process of time the

differences producing trouble would gradually [be] obliterated.

(Report of the Indian Peace Commission 199)

The government's educational goal was to take native children, subsisting in

"blind ignorance, the devotees of abominable superstitions, and the victims of

idleness and thriftlessness" and assimilate them into mainstream, white

culture (Reyhner "History of Indian Education" 45). Henry Teller, Secretary of

Interior, 1882-85, declared that the Indian should be "compelled to enter our

civilization whether he will or whether he wills it not" (Hoxie 52). One official

further asserted that educators could,

Impress on the minds of the Indians the friendly and benevolent

views of the government towards them and the advantages to

them if yielded to the policy of the government and cooperating

with it in such measures as it may deem necessary for their

civilization and happiness. (Layman 123)

Consequently, BIA schools were established to teach Indian children to

speak English and to embrace the culture of their "friendly" European

conquerors.

These educational and fundamentally ideological debates were often

informed by the leading anthropological theorists of that day who "accepted

social evolution as the general explanation of human development" (Hoxie

17). Lewis Henry Morgan's categorization of Native Americans as barbarous

Oesch 36

thereby justified "the idea that cruel policies such as removal or punitive

warfare were unavoidable steps along the road to progress" (18).

Government boarding schools, like the proposed Carlisle Indian School, were

thus seen as a necessary and inevitable step for Native Americans to avoid

extinction by becoming assimilated into "a civilized society."

Due to declining birthrates among tribes and increasing concern

among humanitarians for the 'Vanishing Americans," Secretary of Interior

Carl Schurz asserted that civilizing Native Americans was "an absolute

necessity, if we mean to save them" (Hoxie 14). He also mocked earlier calls

for civilization or extermination.

The thought of exterminating a race, once the only occupant of the

soil upon which so many millions of our own people have grown

prosperous and happy, must be revolting to every American who

is not devoid of all sentiments of justice and humanity. (14)

Mounting hostilities in the west, including the annihilation of Custer's troops in

the 1876 Battle of Little Big Horn, had sparked Schurz's address of the

century old dictum, "The only good Indian is a dead Indian" (Pratt Battlefield

134). Yet his attack on extermination sympathizers also served as a ploy to

ward off War Department encroachments to regain control of the BIA. In

addition, he appeased inter-departmental hostilities by accommodating

military officials with his new Civil Service proposal. This proposal provided

positions for Army personnel in peace times by integrating them into BIA jobs

(Reyhner History of Indian Education 45).

Oesch 37

Surviving documentation suggests that the continued interaction

between these two governmental branches was mutually beneficial. The War

Department wished to maintain a heavy hand in Indian affairs, while the BIA

needed an inexpensive work force to serve in remote school settings.

Consequently, many BIA school teachers and administrators were "often

poorly trained" commissioned military men "fresh from the Indian wars"

(Hirschfelder 95). As would follow, most Native American schools were

operated on a military model and provided highly disciplined environments to

assist in the transformation from ''young savages" to civilized Indian-Americans.

The Carlisle Indian School was no exception. Pratt founded the school

in the twelfth year of his military commission. His history as a preacher, small

town businessman, and army lieutenant brought an interesting blend of

experiences to the classroom.

Richard Henry Pratt

R. H. Pratt was born in 1840 in Logansport, Indiana, bordering the

Western frontier. Following the murder of his father, Pratt left school at the

age of thirteen and worked as a "printers devil," later apprenticing as a

tinsmith to support his mother and three younger brothers (Utley ix). He also

had strong religious convictions and was ordained by the Presbyterian church.

In 1861 Pratt was drafted to serve in the Civil War. Following four

years of conflict, he settled back in Logansport with his wife, Anna Laura

Mason (Hoxie 54). After two years of financial frustrations,

twenty-seven-year-old Pratt closed his failing hardware store and joined the

army. He was commissioned to the western frontier as Second Lieutenant to

Oesch 38

the Tenth United States Calvary-a "newly organized regiment composed of

Negro enlisted men with white officers" (Utley x). Pratt's association with the

Presbyterian church may have influenced his commission. It appeared that

men with religious or philanthropic ties were most frequently placed in charge

of minority troops due to their presumed civil sensibilities.

For the next eight years Pratt served in Indian Territory and Texas

battling various Native American tribes, eventually contributing to the collapse

of the Southern Plains tribes. Pratt was involved in a number of campaigns

and smaller skirmishes, during which his superiors noted that he could deftly

organize and deploy allied Indians scouts (Hoxie 54; Utley xi). Pratt's

battlefield career ended in 1875 when he was selected to accompany

seventy-two Kiowas, Comanches and Cheyennes-ringleaders of the Red

River war fighting--to Fort Marion in St. Augustine, Florida (Fritz 164, Hoxie

54). These warriors were to be held as prisoners of war for an undetermined

period of time.

Fort Marion

The time Pratt spent with the prisoners in St. Augustine played a major

role in the development of his pedagogy. In fact, there is evidence to suggest

that Pratt's educational theories were formulated around his experiences at

Fort Marion.

After their arrival on May 21, 1875, the following months in Florida

proved to be difficult for both the prisoners and Pratt. Initially, aid was

commissioned from nearby St. Francis Barracks. These infantrymen guarded

the Native Americans and were apparently very cruel and irresponsible. The

Oesch 39

guards limited prisoners to a small, boarded-up area at the center of the fort,

kept them in shackles, and deprived them of shelter from the Florida sun "so

that their only view was up toward the sky" (R. H. Pratt Battlefield 117-18).

The tremendous heat and humidity coupled with limited movement proved to

be a hotbed for disease and depression. 11 Pratt reacted to this harsh

treatment, providing suitable quarters, U. S. military uniforms and a hair cut

for his prisoners. 12

Following this incident, Pratt seemed to become more aware of his

liberties as warden. Originally, Pratt's orders had been vague. He was

simply "instructed to oversee the incarceration of the Indians" (D. W. Adams

39). In time, he began to realize the freedom he enjoyed in the absence of

any direct supervision from military superiors. In light of the leniency

extended to him, Pratt gave in to a nagging idea-he would attempt to civilize

his savage prisoners.

First, Pratt developed a program whereby select prisoners served as

guards rather than relying on Infantry recruits. Native American guards

proved to be more dependable and much more effective with fellow

prisoners. As a result, the U. S. soldiers were soon relinquished of their

duties and replaced by fifty inmates who guarded themselves without any

"material mishaps" during their incarceration (Pratt Battlefield 118-120).

Next, Pratt instituted a training program for the prisoners following a

military regimentation. They quickly acquired the skills taught. It seemed that

the expedience with which they learned these duties may have served as a

Oesch 40

springboard for Pratt to pursue more intellectually stimulating forms of

instruction. Later, community volunteers began teaching English;

then they progressed to teaching a variety of subjects including basic math,

geography and debate. In return, the Native Americans taught archery and

demonstrated tribal culture through drawings and dance exhibitions.

Pratt expanded this prison experiment by encouraging local merchants

to employ his prisoners. He proposed that the work would help the Indians

pass their time in captivity. These "civilized warriors" polished sea pearls and

strung beads for minimal wages. Monies earned could be spent at local

shops or placed in individual savings accounts which had been opened by

Pratt to help foster the ideals of capitalism. "Soon the Indians were making

canes and bows and arrows, painting scenes of traditional Indian life, and

receiving the full amount when items were sold" (D. W. Adams 41 ).

By the second year of captivity, prisoners were hired out as orange

pickers, baggage handlers and horse trainers. Pratt taught that with

obedience came freedom and felt that the work program exhibited his

teaching. An editorial letter, printed in the New York Daily Tribune, agreed.

"captain Pratt's success is due to the fact that he has taught these Indians to

obey; that he has encouraged them to labor; he has given them, in its best

sense, a Christian school" (Pratt Battlefield 164 ).

Subsequently, the Indians, clad in neatly pressed military uniforms,

became a familiar sight to the residents of St. Augustine. Numerous tourists

also visited the fort to watch the prisoners perform well-timed military drills

and examined other aspects of Pratt's experiment. Thereby, the Native

Oesch 41

Americans not only added to the local economy, but became a notable

addition to the community. The prisoners even gained special recognition

from the Mayor for helping exterminate a raging fire which had threatened the

downtown area.

After three years of imprisonment the warriors were released to return

home. Seventeen of Pratt's "noble savages" instead chose to attend the

Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute near Old Point Comfort, Virginia

(Evelyn Adams 52). Pratt accompanied the prospective students from St

Augustine and spent three months observing and participating in the school's

programs. The Hampton Institute had been founded in 1868 by General

Samuel Chapman Armstrong, a Congregationalist minister who had also

commanded minority troops. Armstrong's intent was to provide practical

education for ex-slaves. The school was based on an "industrial model which

gave black children [an] ... 'education for life"' (Reyhner History of Indian

Education 71).

Exposure to these formal educational efforts "heightened [Pratt's]

evangelical view of his work" and bolstered his educational theory that

Indians could be taught as easily as white or black men. It is important to

note that if Pratt had "interpreted his orders narrowly, the Fort Marion affair

might have simply become an interesting but minor ineident in the story of

Indian-white relations" (D. W. Adams 39). Instead, this bold experiment

gained the attention ofa nation and situated Pratt as the "singlemost

important figure on the Indian education scene" for the next twenty-five years

(51). Plus, the programs implemented at Fort Marion became the framework

Oesch 42

around which boarding schools' curriculums would later be structured.

Indeed, Pratt's "idea" gave birth to formal, off-reservation, Native American

educational efforts.

Meanwhile, skeptics were doubtful of Pratt's progress with the

tribesmen at St. Augustine, questioning an "Indian's ability to throw off the

trappings of savagery and absorb the teachings of the white man" (Utley xii).

Others questioned the validity of a pedagogy developed while in charge of

Indian prisoners and mockingly jested that Pratt had stumbled upon his

educational theory of Native American educability (Evelyn Adams 51). 13

Pratt's Response to Opposition and Government Policies

Due to "Pratt's uncompromising nature and his tendency to adhere to

absolutes," he had "nothing but disdain for those who criticized his methods"

(D. W. Adams 51). During his service on the battlefield, Captain Pratt had

seen first hand the confusion and conflict caused by poorly implemented

government policies. He sharply criticized the "scant and lax methods" of

"politically appointed superiors, ignorant of Indians and what was best for

them" (Pratt Battlefield 179). Many other military officials shared Pratt's

disdain for the bureaucratic "Indian system." In a meeting with Pratt, General

Sherman confessed, "Most of our dangerous duty on the frontier in

suppressing Indians was forced upon us by the maladministration of these

incompetents" (240).

Pratt's text, Battlefield and Classroom, listed numerous indictments

against government officials and their sightless policies. He recalled

situations where Indian beef rations were diseased, annuities were

Oesch 43

mismanaged and funds were misappropriated. Pratt was also one of the few

men who questioned the duplicity of roles-supreme conqueror verses

benevolent guardian-played by the U. S. government.

The dual system of civil and military control over the Indians was

full of vexatious complications and lack of harmony. The army

was witness that the government through its Indian Bureau was

sadly lacking in keeping its treaty obligations, which goaded the

Indians to rebel against being reservated ... plainly portending

disaster to them, for the white man's advantage. (31)

Insightfully sympathetic to the plight of Native Americans, Pratt observed, "It

was perfectly human for the Indians to attempt to maintain their freedom [by

fighting] ... when it was the only door of escape available." He further

exonerated warring tribes and military officials by claiming, "The responsibility

for what happened was therefore not on the aggressive or resisting units, .but

in the quality of government supervision which precipitated the conflicts" (33).

Thus, blame for the injustices of the Indian Wars, removal, and reservation

system was placed on the heads of nameless faces in a self-perpetuating,

bureaucratic hierarchy.

Pratt vocally opposed all government policies that supported tribal

systems. This included hostility toward the reservation system, reservation

schools and the government's recognition of tribes as independent nations.

The "reservation system worked at 'colonizing' Indians," whereas Pratt would

work to "individualize them" (D. W. Adams 53). Therefore, he assertively

promoted the Americanization of each Indian. Pratt claimed that his efforts

Oesch 44

were rooted at the heart of the democratic system-the Declaration of

Independence. He stated that the self-evident truths, " 'that all men are

created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable

rights' ... meant nothing unless it included the native Indians" (Battlefield 268).

Pratt's plan to "include" Native Americans incorporated providing off­

reservation educational opportunities with granting United States citizenship

to all tribal members. He contended that this would bring Indians into contact

with euroamericans, thus speeding their desire to "change from aboriginal to

civilized life" (Battlefield 269). Pratt's ultimate goal was to see Native Americans

scattered among white communities and assimilated into the dominant culture.

Pratt consistently condemned Indian officials for ignorantly imposing

"what they felt was best" on Native Americans. Yet, paradoxically, he never

questioned his own ability to do so. An obvious product of traditional,

Protestant ideologies, Pratt concluded that his approach provided the only

feasible answer to the vexing Indian problem. He fought desperately to see

these plans were carried out, recognizing the Carlisle classroom as his

battlefield. In a letter to President Rutherford B. Hayes, Pratt wrote:

I know I am at this time 'fighting' a greater number of 'the

enemies of civilization' than the whole of my regiment put

together, and I know further that I am fighting them with a

thousand times more hopes of success ... Here a Lieutenant

Oesch 45 .

struggles to evolve order out of a chaos of fourteen different

Indian languages! Civilization out of savagery! Cleanliness

out of filth ... and see that all the interests of his government

and the Indian as well are properly protected and served.

(Battlefield 251)

In this last, great Indian War, Pratt was coming for the children

(D. W. Adams 333).

Founding Carlisle

In the Spring of 1879 he initiated this plan by meeting with Washington

officials and requesting the use of the abandoned barracks at Carlisle,

Pennsylvania to house the school. Secretary of Interior, Carl Schurz, was

supportive of Pratt's educational experiment "to test the feasibility of

educating Indians in boarding schools located far from tribal and parental

influences" (Hirschfelder 95). Secretary Schurz worked in cooperation with

Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Ezra A. Hyat, and Secretary of War, G. W.

Mccrary, to secure use of the barracks and funding for Pratt's project. 14

Pratt's timely appeal for the establishment of an off-reservation

boarding school not only complemented Schurz's personal conviction that

Indians could be educated, it also accommodated War Department concerns.

First, it did so by placing a military officer in charge of the project. Second,

officials noted that the children's presence in the east would guarantee the

good behavior of their families (Pratt Battlefield 220). Pratt's appeal also

opened the door for the 1882 government authorization approving the use of

Oesch 46

abandoned military forts and stockades for schools, as well as the continued

commission of military officers as teachers and administrators (Hirschfelder 95).

By slightly revising the phrase "the only good Indian is a dead Indian,"

Pratt's motto for Native American education became: "Kill the Indian in him

and save the man" (R. H. Pratt "Advantages of Mingling" 35). "He [had]

convinced [his fellow countrymen] that different skin color and different

cultural background did not automatically produce an inferior being" (Utely

xvii). According to Pratt'.s memoirs, he also believed that the only differences

between Native Americans and whites were the civilizing forces that he felt

were innate to education.

Further, Pratt claimed that complete assimilation of Native American

children was only possible if they were devoid of tribal influences and

"environed ... in the best things of our civilization" (R. H. Pratt Battlefield

213). At the 1883 Baptist World Convention the pulpit chairman jokingly

noted that although Pratt was not Baptist, "In Indian matters he is a good

enough Baptist for us to listen to." Pratt, an ordained Presbyterian, began by

replying, "In Indian civilization I am a Baptist, because I believe in immersing

the Indians in our culture and when we get them under, holding them there

until they are thoroughly soaked" (335). He set out determined to accomplish

this task.

After another meeting with Commissioner Hayt, Pratt was directed to

recruit 120 students, seventy-two of whom were to be acquired from the

discontented branches of the Sioux Indians at the Rosebud and Pine Ridge

Agencies. Pratt objected to being sent to these hostile factions who had "not

Oesch 47

yet taken up the school idea"; but Hayt "was insistent that [he) must go to

Spotted Tail and Red Cloud, because the children would be hostages for the

good behavior of their people" (Pratt Battlefield 220). 15

On his first recruiting trip, Pratt reported to have traveled nearly 1,000

miles by train and boat, enduring the final 100 miles to the Rosebud

reservation in a two-seated spring wagon (Battlefield 220-222). There he met

with the leading chiefs and requested their cooperation with government

educational efforts. Pratt debated with Spotted Tail, stating, "You signed that

[treaty), knowing only what the interpreter told you it said ... Because you

were not educated ... [the Black Hills) have passed from you" (223). After

assuring his loyalty and friendship to the tribal leaders, the chieftains

encouraged sixty-six children to return with Pratt.

At Pine Ridge another sixteen children committed to attend the school

and two others "sneaked aboard" the Missouri river boat that transported the

children. This brought the total to eighty-four Sioux children in Carlisle's

inaugural class of 136 pupils from four tribes. Pratt reported that the Sioux

responded in a celebratory mode, sending their children adorned in their

finest clothing and giving gifts to their envoys as well as fellow tribal members

(Battlefield 224-29).

Students' First Weeks at Carlisle

When the train arrived in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, the Indians were

greeted by throngs of onlookers eager to see the "young savages." The New

York Daily Tribune reported that the incoming pupils were as foreign "to the

ways of civilization as so many freshly captured wolves" (D. W. Adams 49).

Oesch 48

After the children were marched through town to their new home, the Carlisle

Indian School, they were superficially "transformed" from their tribal ways.

Boys were provided U. S. military uniforms and their hair was cut, while girls

were given "proper'' dresses and their previous "Indian" clothing destroyed.

Students were then given "Americanized" names to replace those given by

their families. These were selected from either the girl's or boy's list on the

black-board (American Experience; Standing Bear). 1e This outward

transformation was captured by before and after photographs which were

widely circulated as a testimonial of Pratt's successes. By the end of the first

academic year, Pratt's "immersion technique" was viewed as a huge

success. The Board of Indian Commissioners enthusiastically supported these

efforts, stating:

The progress of the pupils in the industrial boarding schools is

far greater than in day schools. The children being removed

from the idle and corrupting habits of savage homes are more

easily led to adopt customs of civilized life and inspired with a

desire to learn. (Reyhner History of Indian Education 46)

This added an aura of validity to Pratt's claim that "Indians were like other

people and could be as easily educated and developed industrially"

(Pratt Battlefield 214). Homer Price, Commissioner of Indian Affairs during

the Teller incumbency, was very impressed with Pratt's de-culturalization

efforts (Prucha Americanizing 295). He claimed that,

Oesch49

... some time in the near future ... with the aid of such

industrial, agricultural, and mechanical [boarding] schools as

[are] now being carried on, the Indian will be able to care for

himself, and be no longer a burden ... to the Government.

(Hoxie 59)

School Days

Carlisle students entered a completely foreign environment. In an

attempt to counter Native American nomadic lifestyles, they were placed on

highly regimented, military schedules. 11 Some educators believed that

introducing the children to "habits of discipline" structured to compliment the

"American work ethic" would transform them into "socially productive

citizens." Consequently, students awoke to trumpet reveille at 6:00 AM and

proceeded through a tightly scheduled day of chores, classes, calisthenics

and religious services. The curriculum included math, sciences, history and

an emphasis in English. Vocational training varied from tinsmithing (which

Pratt taught), to sewing, and included periodical ·instruction from visiting

professors in fields such as electricity and chemistry.

Pratt was so pleased with the students' progress in the various

subjects and vocations that he encouraged officials to open other boarding

schools following his half day of academics, half day of work, schedule. In

1883, eighteen off-reservation boarding schools had been opened. By the

turn of the century, over one-third of the 17,708 students in Indian boarding

schools were attending campuses modeled after Pratt's Carlisle programs

(D. W. Adams 55, 57).

Oesch 50

These educational efforts were proclaimed as the "means, above all

others, [by which) the Indians would be turned into patriotic Americans"

(Prucha Americanizing 191). Encouraging Native Americans to become

active citizens was a far cry from the 1818 House Committee on

Appropriations dictum that "either ... those sons of the forest should be

moralized or exterminated" (Hirschfelder 94). This devaluing of Native

American cultures pervaded the political and educational atmosphere and

informed approaches to literacy instruction at government boarding schools,

including Carlisle. "Above all, Pratt sought to equip the children with an ability

to speak, read, and write the English language, for this was the most vital

prerequisite to a satisfactory adjustment to the white man's world" (Utely xiii).

English Education

Carlisle came to strictly abide by an English Only policy. Earlier,

however, Pratt's memoirs imply that he had indulged in various forms of bi­

lingual instruction. He hired an interpreter from the Rosebud Reservation to

assist the students and himself with the awkward silences encountered

during the first months at Carlisle (Pratt Battlefield 200-229). Commissioner

of Indian Affairs, J. D. C. Atkins, deemed such accommodations

inappropriate, expressing his disapproval of any catering to tribal languages.

Atkins based this assertion on the 1880 Indian Bureau's regulation stating that,

"All instruction must be in English ... and the conversations of and

communications between pupils and with the teacher must be, as far as

possible, in English" (Atkins "English Language" 199). Thus, English

instruction was placed at the center of Indian school curriculum.

Oesch 51

Mandatory use of the English language also served as the driving

force behind a cultural "wedge" intended to separate Native Americans from

their ancestral ties. Indians were viewed as "a savage people speaking [a]

strange jargon that [settlers] did not understand" (Dawes 25). Therefore,

overcoming the language barrier was seen as a primary factor for Native

American assimilation into mainstream society. Even reform sympathizer

William Strong advised that Indians "should not maintain their own language"

(39). Views on English language proficiency may be summarized best by

Commissioner Atkins when he asserted,

Every nation is jealous of its own language, and no nation

ought to be more so than ours, which approaches nearer than

any other nationality to perfect protection of its people. True

Americans all feel that the Constitution, laws, and institutions of

the United States, in their adaptation to the wants and require­

ments of man, are superior to those of any other country; and

they should understand that by the spread of the English

language will these laws and institutions be more firmly estab­

lished and widely disseminated. Nothing so surely and

perfectly stamps upon an individual a national characteristic

as language. (Atkins Annual Repottxxi-xxiii)

Because of widespread acceptance of this ethnocentric view, it became "a

matter not only of importance, but of necessity that the Indians acquire the

English language as rapidly as possible" (Atkins "English Language" 200).

Oesch 52

Atkins proceeded to clarify that "the main purpose of educating [Native

Americans was] to enable them to read, write, and speak the English

language" (200).

Ironically, the BIA's English Only mandate was in conflict with

nineteenth century educational research. Secretary Schurz had been notified

that Alfred L. Riggs, a successful administrator, was "of the opinion that first

teaching the child to read and write in their own language enables them to

master English with more ease" (Repott of the Board of Indian Commissioners

77). Nevertheless, in 1886, Commissioner Atkins reiterated that students

"should be taught the English language only" threatening the withdrawal of

federal financial support and the removal of Indian students from offending

institutions. This measure went one step further to forbid giving "instructions"

in the student's native tongue.(Atkins "English Language" 189-91).

Under these more extreme regulations students who were caught

conversing, singing or storytelling in any language other than English were

chastised. Sometimes this punishment included public humiliation (the most

abhorrent form of retribution among some tribes) or whippings (Reyhner

History of Indian Education 10). One student recalled "getting a stroke of a

leather strap with holes in it" every time he spoke "Indian" (50). Pratt's

approach to discipline may have differed from traditional corporal forms

(Battlefield244; D. W. Adams 141).

Pratt's memoirs noted that the students took pride in being able to

endure great pain. Therefore, Pratt found it more effective to embarrass or

publicly humiliate students who had broken campus regulations.

Oesch 53

He held Saturday night meetings that facilitated his system. At the beginning

of each meeting, students who had spoken "Indian" were to stand and

confess their offenses (Standing Bear). Under extreme duress, one young

woman could not bear carrying her offense until the appointed time. She wrote:

Dear Sir Capt. Pratt:

I write this letter with much sorrow to tell you that I have

spoken one Indian word. I will tell you how it happened:

yesterday ... before I knew what I was saying I found that had

spoken one [Sioux] word, and I felt so sorry that I could not eat

my supper ... and the tears rolled down my cheeks. I tried

very hard to speak only English.

(D. W. Adams 141)

--Nellie Robertson

Although Pratt's Saturday night meeting served as a confessional, it

was originally designed to help develop facility in English. At these meetings

students would answer prompts with phrases they had memorized in class.

For example: Pratt, "How shall we solve the Indian problem?" Assembly,

"Abolish the reservation system! Abolish the reservation system!" Then

Pratt or another Carlisle affiliate would deliver a speech to coincide with the

slogan memorized (Gilcrest 52, 53).

The meetings may have had some affect on students' oral English

skills; but, it is more likely that the ideologies inherent to the memorized

slogans or imbedded within the evening's sermon had a greater influence on

Oesch 54

the students. Propaganda of this nature laced many of Carlisle's programs,

from the Saturday night meetings to the school motto: "God helps those who

help themselves" {Pratt Battlefield 323).

In light of the "civilizing forces" at work within this system, some

"students' uncanny ability to dutifully go through the motions of compliance

while inwardly resisting" was particularly unnerving to educators {D. W.

Adams 231). Estelle Brown, a teacher at Crow Creek, described her Indian

students as "mute, graven images." Although she could overlook her own

"inability to understand their mentality," she was "unable to cope with their

refusal to respond to my efforts" {D. W. Adams 231). The children's

"muteness" seemed to have embodied their refusal of Americanized education.

Seemingly unaware of any flaws within his pedagogy, Pratt continued

constructing programs "guaranteed" to assimilate his students. The Outing

Program was one of his favorite creations. It was designed to further

enhance students' English skills while introducing them to euroamerican

home life.

The Outing Program

The outing program placed Carlisle students in the homes of local

families during holidays and summers. Many of these families were Amish

and operated small farms. Pratt required that prospective host homes submit

both application and references to qualify for a student placement. Once

placed, students worked for minimal wages plus room and board. They were

allowed to spend a small percentage of their earnings and the rest were

Oesch 55

placed in individual bank accounts to be withdrawn upon graduation from

Carlisle (Standing Bear).

Rationale for this program was provided by Pratt's philosophy that

Native Americans must be separated from their cultural ways to become

civilized. He attempted to keep children away from their families for spans as

Jong as three years. Pratt felt sure that exposure to typical American

households would squelch the children's desires to return to the reservation-­

or go "back to the blanket."

This innovative program also assured opportunities for students to

utilize skills acquired in Carlisle's vocational classes and introduced them to

the "capitalistic work ethic." Secretary Schurz supported Pratt's outing

system, stressing the necessity of placing Native American children:

In immediate contact with the towns, farms, and factories of

civilized people, living and working in the atmosphere of

civilization ... [where] there are various shops and ... [farms] for

the instruction of the boys, and the girls are kept busy in the

kitchen, dining-room, sewing-room, and with other

domestic work. (Hoxie 19)

Indian Reform Movement advocate William Strong further asserted that

through programs of this nature, Indian children would adapt to "the trades

and employments of civilized life ... [and] the Indian problem would be

solved" (41). This rampant optimism undergirded Pratt's outing program.

These "successful" integration attempts were heralded as the means by

which each Native American could learn "to stand on his own" (Dawes 29).

Oesch 56

Yet, the outing system served a multiplicity if less innocuous

purposes, most of which benefited white families at the expense of Native

American students. First, area farming profited because these placements

provided the community with an inexpensive labor force. This greatly

contributed to the local economy. Student workers supplied excellent short­

term laborers, especially during planting and harvesting seasons.

Next, the successful nature of this program insured additional visibility

for and promotion of the Carlisle school. Temporary infiltration of capable

Native American youth into local communities appeared to vindicate Pratt's

educational theories proving that Indians could be educated and "cease

being a disturbing element in society" (Schurz 15). Pratt received local, state,

and national attention applauding his outing system, thereby promoting his

educational experiment.

On one hand, Pratt's utilization of child labor was abhorrent. On the

other hand, child labor laws had not been passed and Pratt's operation

appeared to have been self sustaining rather than profit oriented. In fact, the

Fair Labor Standards Act, regulating child labor practices, was not passed

until 1938. This was following two earlier Supreme Court rejections of laws

regulating child labor--in 1918 and 1922. Yet, issues regarding child labor

practices were only one drawback to Pratt's program.

The outing system's most detrimental influence may have been the de­

culturalization of Native American students. Pratt's memoirs suggest that his

program was intended to serve as a chasm between Carlisle students and

their heritage. Therefore, students were separated from any semblance of

Oesch 57

their ancestral ties. Supporters of de-culturalization efforts again referred to

Morgan's theory of social evolution to justify investments in the individual

Native American while despising their "savage" culture.

While addressing the Lake Mohonk Conference, an Indian rights

gathering, William Strong also promoted the physiological separation of

Native Americans from tribal associations. Strong stated,

I am one of those who think it desirable that the Indians should

be dispersed or diffused throughout our population; that they

should not be preserved on reservations ... but be brought

into contact with the better portions of our communities ...

where they might be brought under good influences,

and ultimately Americanized. (Hoxie 39)

Despite the practicality of Pratt's outing program and lengthy exposure to

euroamerican values, many Carlisle graduates wished to return to distant

reservations to live with their families.

Caught Between Two Worlds

Jobs on the reservations were scarce, so the returning tribal member

often faced a life much like the one prior to departure, with one exception.

Children away at boarding school missed out on years of training in skills

valued by their tribe. One chief stated that students returning from the white

man's school could not track game, fight or understand proper behavioral.

expectations. Navigating this difference was immensely difficult--few

succeeded. The majority of students ended up caught between two worlds.

Oesch 58

Upon returning home, one Iroquois student was halted by these words:

"What have we here? You are neither a white man nor an Indian. For

heaven's sake, tell us, what are you?" ('World Apart" 14). Most returnees

were warmly welcomed back into their families, but struggled to find

employment where they could use their trade school or academic training.

Other students rejected tribal ways and were ashamed of how their families

lived--some even refused to speak in their native tongue. Well educated with

few options, Carlisle graduates were often rejected in a predominately Anglo

society and unfitted for life with their families.

Collapse of Holistic Educational Approach

Skepticism flourishes when Pratt's de-culturalization efforts appeared

to be failing. Graduates from the Carlisle School frequently returned to their

reservations and "went back to the blanket" (Oswalt 578). Pratt's

philosophical fall from favor was countered by stronger, more opinionated BIA

officials. Administrators such as John H. Oberly, Thomas J. Morgan and

William N. Hailman developed their own educational proposals to address the

continuing Indian problem. They also had the power to impose these

programs on Indian schools across the country. These new pedagogies

impacted issues that ranged from filling empty dormitories to regulating

classroom curriculum.

Oesch 59

Maintaining Enrollment Quotas

Multiple factors contributed to the vast numbers of students channeled

into boarding schools in the late 1880s and early 1890's. Several include: 1)

government legislation demanding compulsory school attendance of Native

American children; 2) laws permitting the withholding of rations to gain

consent from parents for children to attend boarding schools; 3) per student

school funding; and 4) little regulation of boarding school recruitment efforts.

In 1892 compulsory attendance requirements were approved giving

Indian agents the "right" to accost Native American children. Naturally,

families hid their children from these empowered truant officers. To counter

parents' unwillingness to comply with the national mandate, an 1893 Act was

passed that approved the withholding of food rations to gain consent from

parents opposed to relinquishing custody of school age children (Hirschfelder

96). Competition for the relatively small numbers of available children was

often fierce. This was further complicated by "per-capita funding" incentives.

Young Indians were sought out, captured, placed in wagons or on

trains and shipped to the school of their reservation agents choosing. This

created a trail of horrors and hatred between Native Americans and the

salvation promised them through education. Families that continued to

conceal children were literally starved. Heinous crimes against these

impoverished peoples flourished under the guise of educational

enhancement until the 1893 Act was repealed on August, 15, of the following

year (Hirschfelder 96).

Oesch 60

Due to these rash abuses, Congress outlawed the withholding of

rations and prohibited sending students out of state without parental consent.

Yet many institutions relied on deceitful tactics to boost attendance. These

may have resulted from corruption rampant in the BIA, compulsory

attendance legislation and limited available funding. The competitive nature

created by government policies may be best exemplified by a Sioux father

who asked a missionary teacher: "How much will you give me if I let my boy

go to your school? That other teacher says he will give me an overcoat!"

(Leupp 131 ).

It appeared that Pratt rejected deceitful recruitment tactics. Instead,

Pratt recruited students by sending junior administrators or teachers

accompanied by older Carlisle students to western reservations.

Subsequently, the Carlisle School had more than ample numbers to secure

government subsidies. This was probably due to the nation-wide prestige

gained by Pratt's pilot project. As early as 1890over1,000 students were

being educated in the old army barracks, the majority of whom were elite,

tribal leaders' children.

New Curriculum

In-spite of Carlisle's high visibility, approval of Pratt's efforts waned in

support of a more vocationally oriented curriculum. Initiation of these

programs began as early as 1888 under the Cleveland administration.

Commissioner of Indian Affairs, John Oberly proposed that boarding schools

be constructed on reservations. These were to follow Pratt's half day class,

half day work schedule. Oberly also requested that a special series of

Oesch 61

textbooks be devised by Indian office experts for use in this national system.

Incumbent President Benjamin Harrison then selected an educational expert,

Thomas Jefferson Morgan, to serve as Commissioner and enact Oberly's plans.

Contrary to Harrison's expectations, Morgan dramatically amended

Oberly's proposal. In 1891, Morgan instituted his own educational agenda

which promoted public school integration. Additional per-capita funding was

promised to schools willing to accommodate Native American students,

provided that fair and equal treatment be guaranteed. Morgan's

Superintendent, Reverend Daniel Dorchester, pushed for the 1892 and 1893

compulsory attendance acts to insure that Indians attended these

predominately white schools. This produced the rash recruitment tactics

which plagued Indian families.

Turmoil of this nature continued as BIA administrators often disagreed

on the methodological approaches best fitted to speed assimilation efforts.

Programs also lacked a cohesion of vision as each successive Commissioner

enacted his own idealized curricular plan. This placed Native American

educational policies in a state of perpetual flux until the emergence of a self­

perpetuated, bureaucratic system. This foundling bureaucracy rose to power

in the late 1890s under the McKinley administration. Led by Commissioner of

Indian Affairs, W. A. Jones, and Indian School Superintendent, William N.

Hailman, national school reform programs promised to replace "schoolroom

pedantry" with "really vital work" (Hoxie 190).

Roosevelt followed McKinley in 1901, selecting Jones to serve another

four-year term as Commissioner. Jones announced, "the groundwork of all

Oesch 62

instruction in Indian schools is the systematic inculcation of the principles of

work." Estelle Reel, who had assumed the responsibilities of Superintendent

in 1898, produced a new curriculum which "infused academic coursework

with practical, job-related applications" (Adams 315). Thereby, commitment

to vocationally oriented programming came to the forefront of instructional

concerns. Outlook magazine chastised past government officials for

exposing Native American children to "the same sort of book education ...

as [was] set before white children" (Hoxie 194). Reel's programming

accommodated these ethnocentric views. Yet, her curriculum so drastically

amended previous plans that Thomas Morgan attacked her program as a

"discredit to the whole Indian school system" (197).

Despite the efforts of earlier "liberal educators" like Pratt, who

supported a more holistic approach to Native American instruction, by 1902

instruction of Native American students in literature or the arts was seen as

"seed sown on stony ground" (194). The Carlisle school "no longer worked to

transform the children who arrived there," but began concentrating

educational efforts only on English literacy instruction and the training of

farmers and factory workers (Hoxie 194; Fritz 164-166).

During Roosevelt's second term, he appointed Francis E. Leupp as the

new Commissioner of Indian Affairs and Reel was reinstated for one final

term as Superintendent. Leupp joined Reel's vocational crusade with one

profound philosophical difference. In his first Annual Report, Leupp "attacked

believers in racial equality'' (Hoxie 198). He concluded that minorities were

hereditarily inferior, claiming "Nature's Work" had placed the white man as

Oesch 63

"lord" over other races. Psychologist G. Stanley Hall perpetuated these

bigoted assertions by contrasting the races to life cycles, noting "some races

never mature" (199).

Leupp's motto for Native American education was "individualize and

specialize," creating an assembly-line mentality in government funded Native

American schools. Leupp jeered,

Now, if anyone can show me what advantage will come to this

large body of manual workers from being able to reel off the

names of the mountains in Asia, or extract the cube root of

123456789, I shall be deeply grateful. (D. W. Adams 315)

Native Americans were viewed as only needing enough English education to

read local newspapers or understand property contracts and enough math to

avoid being cheated by grain dealers or store owners.

Incoming officials such as Cato Sells and Harvey Pearis built on the

ideological foundations of their predecessors. Thereby, a complex

bureaucracy matured, nurtured by an intermingling of political and

educational agendas. Consequently, "by 1916 all but a few select schools

followed a curriculum divided_ into four levels--primary, prevocational, junior

vocational, and senior vocational'' (D. W. Adams 315).

By the time it was closed in 191 B to be used as an Army

"rehabilitation program for veterans of World War I," the Carlisle Indian

School had evolved into a trade school specifically chartered to "prepare

students for the mechanical trades and apprentice them to Ford Motor

Company" (Evelyn Adams 53, Hoxie 204). These drastic changes in

Oesch 64

curriculum at government boarding schools marked the disillusionment of

educators and government officials who had trusted in literacy education to

serve as the catalyst for Indian assimilation.

Pratt's Fall from Grace

Although Carlisle had been operating at full capacity (1,200) from the

mid-1890s though the turn of the century, Pratt's philosophy fell victim to

Jones' thriving bureaucracy. It has also been noted that Pratt's career met

much the same fate. In 1903 Pratt was "summarily retired by President

Theodore Roosevelt" even though he was two years below the mandatory

retirement age (Pratt Battlefield 337). As editor of Battlefield and Classroom,

Utely noted that this forced retirement has been ascribed to a previous feud

over Civil Service reform, dating back to a time when Roosevelt headed the

Civil Service Commission. Nonetheless, Pratt remained as Superintendent of

the Carlisle Indian School as a dispatch of the Department of Interior. He

was conferred the rank of Brigadier General for Civil War service and was

honorably discharged in 1904, officially ending his military and classroom

career. In his later years, Pratt remained active in Indian affairs issues while

compiling a history of his military career. Pratt lived to see a portion of his

ambitions met as Indian veterans of World War I obtained citizenship in 1919.

Regrettably, he died just two years prior to the 1924 Curtis Act which

declared all Native Americans to be citizens of the United States (D. W.

Adams 146).

Oesch 65

Pratt's final speech as a commissioned military officer reportedly

proclaimed, "Better, far better, had there never been a Bureau. Then self­

preservation would have led the individual Indian to find his true place, and

his real emancipation would have come speedily'' (Pratt Battlefield 336).

Pratt never realized that his plans for Indian education perpetuated the

bondage of the people he fought so desperately to liberate. Native

Americans would continue battling for equality and freedom of cultural

expression, despite the efforts of well-intended reformers, into the later part of

the twentieth century.

Oesch 66

Chapter Three

Native American educational histories have become widely discussed

in recent years for various reasons including the resurgence of tribal cultural

awareness. In his essay "Ethnography as Narrative," Edward M. Bruner

attributes this resurgence to a change in historical narratives. Previously,

many viewed Native Americans' conditions at present as disorganized, the

past as glorious and the future as assimilation. More recent paradigms see

the present as the resistance movement, the past as exploitation, and the

future as cultural resurgence. 1a In light of this change in ideologically

weighted models, numerous historians have begun re.evaluating the means

by which American Indians were exploited. Countless wars, language

barriers, inter-tribal hostilities and the removal of eastern tribes into western

territories had devastating affects on tribal life. 1e Yet, pieces of their native

cultures survived despite such oppositions. Education proved to be a more

divisive tool.

Educational reformers of the late 1880s proposed new techniques to

expedite the genocide of native cultural ways. Through Americanized

education, native Indians often became liminal figures even within traditional

tribal structures. To gain a perspective on this phenomenon, numerous

modern researchers have investigated the oppressive effects of government

boarding schools, the relationship of government intrusion to educational

trends and the often conflated motives of Native American school reformers.

Although "tidy" summaries remain elusive, exploration of the proposed

altruistic, yet often self-serving, motives of reformers may lend a more

Oesch 67

productive critique of nineteenth-century Native American educational

ideologies.

The final chapter of this thesis proposes to embark on this endeavor

by considering the ideologies at play in the work of one Native American

school reformer-Richard Henry Pratt. This exploration will include discussion

of the propositions that compose an ideology, the rhetorical functions

inherent to each, and consideration of who believed or promoted these views.

To accomplish this task, rhetorical and socio-political information from

Chapter One will be contrasted with educational trends and Pratt's

experiences as documented in Chapter Two. Correlations between these

materials will provide valuable insights into the complex motivations and

intrinsic ideologies which fused to compose Pratt's educational philosophy.

While it may be difficult, or impossible, to reconstruct an indisputable

model of Pratt's ideology, recognizing the relationships between historical

situations, Pratfs formal expressions (letters, speeches, publications), and his

"workaday world" will create a reflection of his social outlook. Due to the

"mirror-like quality" of this outlook, it will "reflect the moral and material

aspects of [Pratt's] understanding" which, in turn, will indicate his ideological

stance (Apter 15). The "interpretive task" of this thesis is, then, to try to

distinguish between Pratt's sincere convictions, his forced acquiescence to

governmental policies, and other incidental correlations. Luckily, Pratt's

memoirs are not laced with politically correct sensibilities. His dogmatic

assertions and directive commentary on a wide range of issues insure ample

materials from which to navigate the murky waters of the interpretive domain.

Oesch 68

Ideology Defined

Since this endeavor is rooted in a specific perception of the term

"ideology," it is imperative to define its scope of reference for the purposes of

this project. As briefly mentioned in the Introduction, Clifford Geertz essay

"Ideology as a Cultural System" will provide the background for a working

definition of ideologies. Geertz claims that ideologies are "maps of

problematic reality and matrices for the creation of collective conscience" that

"render otherwise incomprehensible social situations meaningful" (64).

Recognizing the noetic tenets of an ideology helps explain its often

intangible, yet overpoweringly influential nature. This nature is more

concretely noted through observances of social actions. Martin Seliger writes

that an ideology expresses "sets of ideas by which men posit, explain and

justify ends and means of organized social action" (Kaestle 124). Carl F.

Kaestle summarizes these points by noting that "ideology is the aspect of

formally expressed culture that defends and explains social institutions and

social relations" (125).

Kaestle's essay provides a concise definition of ideology which

acknowledges its theoretical complexities and practical manifestations. He

summarizes ideology as:

A set of compatible propositions about human nature and

society that help an individual to interpret complex human

problems and take action that the individual believes is in his or

her best interest and the best interest of society as a whole.

(Kaestle 125)

Oesch 69

Therefore, to gain insight into Pratt's ideology, one must reconstruct

compatible sets of propositions regarding his perceptions of human nature

and society. This framework can be built though reflection on major rhetorical

movements for clues into his views on human nature, and consideration of

socio-political trends which will reflect his social outlook.

Rhetorical Movements:

Scottish Common Sense Realism and Pratt

Conceptions of human nature are at the base of rhetorical studies.

Also, since rhetoric is at the center of all a culture's activities, it serves as an

indicator of change in society (Berlin Writing 1,2). Consequently, careful

consideration of nineteenth-century rhetorical movements can shed light on

the noetic fields influencing Pratt's perceptions of human nature. It may also

clarify rationale for the decline and eventual rejection of Pratt's projects by the

early 1900s.

No movement was more widely embraced in the mid-1 BOOs than

Scottish Common Sense Realism (SCSR). As established in Chapter One,

Scottish Common Sense Realists' perception of human nature was

profoundly influenced by Locke's theory that the mind was made up of two

major faculties: the understanding and the will. This led to the development

of a mechanistic, faculty psychology as espoused through the texts of

George Campbell and Hugh Blair. Campbell recognized "certain principles in

our nature, which, when properly addressed ... give aid to reason" (205).

These "principles" were listed as understanding, imagination, memory and

passions and could be best influenced through an emotionally charged

Oesch 70

argument. Behind this notion was a belief that the human faculties would

respond in an "appropriate" and predictable manner when information was

presented. For example, if someone successfully argued that a stove was

hot, the "common sensical" response would be to avoid touching the stove.

Pratt's memoirs imply that his views were in keeping with this element of SCSR.

Pratt was convinced that government officials, and all other sensible

U.S. citizens, would support his boarding school program if they had a clear

understanding of his plan. Pratt wrote, "It was surely only necessary to prove

Indians were like other people and could be as easily educated and

developed industrially to secure the adoption of my views" (Battlefield 213-

214). He relied on speeches and publications to thereby "prove" the validity

of his educational project. The Carlisle School published several promotional

newspapers to circulate knowledge of the students' progress-presupposing

that "surely" people would respond positively once these successes were known.

Pratt also utilized other mediums to "secure the adoption" of his views.

Apparently believing that a "picture was worth a thousand words," Pratt

provided photographs as proof of the validity of his educational philosophy.

Students' photo sessions were strategically executed just following the

exhausting journey from their reservations to Carlisle. Unbathed and

disoriented, these students were haphazardly arranged and then

photographed. These pictures showed them in their tribal attire and depicted

them as bewildered, dirty savages. Later, the same students, neatly clad in

school uniforms and sporting the latest hair styles, modeled for a second

photograph. These "before and after'' shots were widely circulated as a

Oesch 71

testimony of the miraculous transformations which occurred at Carlisle.

Pratt's memoirs include a letter to Congressman T. C. Pound stating:

I send you today a few photographs of the Indian youth here.

You will note that they came mostly as blanket Indians ... I am

gratified to report that they have yielded gracefully to the

discipline ... [of] our school rooms ... Isolated as these youth

are from the savage surroundings of their homes, they loose

their tenacity to savage life, ... and give themselves up

to learning all they can. (Battlefield 248)

Audiences, like Pound, who viewed this dramatic change were expected to

induce (through Locke's associative principle) that these examples were

indicative of the civilizing forces Pratt's plan could bring to each Native

American child. In a speech at the 1893 Lake Mohonk Conference Pratt

declared:

If this [civilized] condition has been reached in only one or two

cases, it is sufficient to indicate [or induce] that it may be

repeated in all their cases ... how weak, foolish and silly [of] us

not to adopt at once the simple, common-sense means

{boarding school education} by which they rose.

("Remarks" 278)

Scottish Common Sense Realism's grounding in a mechanistic, faculty

psychology and theories of induction provided the basis for such notions.

Oesch 72

Pratt and Notions of "Truth"

Pratt also had tendencies toward other characteristics of this rhetorical

model. According to SCSR, truth was extralingual and could be acquired

through "a 'knowledge of things' gained by examining nature" (Berlin Writing

20). Thus, truth, and thereby knowledge, was discoverable through careful

observation with meaning existing in the sensory experience itself. Pratt

appears to have agreed with this idea that experience was the key to "true"

knowledge. Pratt valued personal experience above all other forms of

learning. This perspective was revealed through his attitude toward those

posing as Indian affairs experts who had never spent time among the Native

Americans. Jn the following excerpt from Pratt's text, he attributes credibility

to a missionary, Sheldon Jackson, because of his experiences among the

Sioux while subtly derailing the views of an east coast minister.

Dr. Jackson was strongly in sympathy with the Carlisle

movement, realizing by obseNation and experience the vast

benefits it would be to the Indian peoples ... Dr. Sunderland,

being in Washington and observing things from that standpoint,

had ideas which were best expressed by his statement that he

would build a wall as high as the sky around every Indian

reservation. (Battlefield 276) (italics added)

This acceptance of experience as the key to truth was also

demonstrated in other venues of Pratt's life. For one, Pratt believed that his

own experiences with the plains tribes gave him the authority to speak on

their behalf. Pratt wrote, "I hope to make plain the righteousness of my Jong

Oesch 73

contentions and the result of my experiences along this line" (Battlefield 100).

To better situate this claim, he spent the next one-hundred pages citing his

experiences with Native Americans including his relationships with allied

scouts, work with the prisoners at St. Augustine, and encounters between

tribesmen and "incompetent" government officials.

Note that Pratt never questioned the ethics or morality of his

conclusions inferred during these experiences. This further implies that Pratt

viewed his interpretation of personal experiences as indisputably "true." It

may also demonstrate his compatibility with SCSR's citation that truth was

observable through encounters with the material world.

Pratt also denied credibility to his opposition by pointing to their lack of

"real life" encounters with tribesmen. Francis Paul Prucha, editor of

Americanizing the American Indians, noted that "Pratt struck back

intemperately at his opponents" (277). He consistently vindicated his own

positions by reciting personal experiences with the Plains tribes while

admonishing others for speaking from experiential ignorance. Pratt even

prescribed a remedy to this situation suggesting that the BIA move its

headquarters to Indian territory.

I advocated placing the Bureau of Indian Affairs on the Sioux or

Navajo Reservation, in direct contact with its responsibilities ...

and demand that it. . . [lead a] charge into the promised land of

our American citizenship ... to prove the impotence of the

Bureau to conclude its job. (Battlefield 283)

Oesch 74

Pratt's accusations were probably well founded. Noted historian Jon Reyhner

concurred stating, "Of course, many of the policy makers in Washington had

never been west of the Mississippi" (History of Indian Education 41 ). These

"policy makers" lack of experience remained a point of contention throughout

Pratt's tenure as an administrator at Carlisle. Pratt's continued accentuation

of the value of experience also influenced his educational philosophy.

Pratt's Educational Philosophy

Next, Pratt's educational philosophy appears to also have been rooted

in the idea that experience leads to true knowledge. But in this case, the

"truth" he most frequently advocated was the supremacy of euroamerican

culture. Just as Pratt was convinced that government officials would "surely"

support his plan once duly informed, he firmly believed that Native Americans

would abandon their cultural ways once they experienced "the best things of

our civilization" (Pratt Battlefield 213). In his 1891 address to the Friends of

the Indians at the Lake Mohonk Conference Pratt explained, "[Indians]

opportunities to see and hear and know are so limited that they are not to be

blamed if they make little progress in the arts of civilization" ('Way Out" 272).

Notice again that he associated experiences, seeing and hearing, with an

ability to grasp the "arts of civilization." Pratt later claimed, 'We make our

greatest mistake by feeding our civilization to the Indians instead of feeding

the Indians to our civilization" ("Advantages" 268). Consequentially, he

demanded that children be provided the opportunity "to see and thus to learn"

the white man's ways (Battlefield 214).

Oesch 75

Carlisle's Outing Program stemmed from the belief that experience

was the key to truth, knowledge and civility. Pratt best described his

propaganda laden programs when he announced:

Carlisle fills young Indians with the spirit of

loyalty to the stars and stripes, and then moves them out into

our communities to ... demonstrate to the nation that he is a

man. ("Advantages" 268)

This quote refers to the outing system and the duplicity of "experiential" roles

it fulfilled. First, it immersed Native Americans in white culture, supposedly

assuring that they would embrace civilized life through this exposure.

Acceptance of euroamerican values further implied a rejection of tribal

associations.

Next, the outing program provided an opportunity for eastern families

to have firsthand experiences with these "transformed savages." Several

presuppositions were considered inherent to these experiences. For one,

host families were to infer from encounters with their Carlisle student that

Native Americans could be successfully educated and successfully integrated

into communities. Secondly, from this knowledge, families were to grasp the

corresponding truth that Native Americans could become "useful citizens"

(Pratt Battlefield 215). Pratt stated that hosts' reactions to student workers

proved this to be true. "The whites learn that Indians can become useful men

and that they have the same qualities as other men. Seeing [Carlisle

students'] industry, their skills and good conduct, [hosts] come to respect

them" ('Way Out" 274).

Oesch 76

Pratt's Curricular Approaches and SCSR

Not only was Pratt's educational philosophy rooted in concepts

consistent with SCSR, his curricular approaches were as well. Many of the

classroom practices at Carlisle were in keeping with the theories of Hugh

Blair and George Campbell. For example, Blair stressed using literature as a

tool to learn proper form and style through imitation (Berlin Writing 8). Pratt

incorporated concepts of imitation into lessons by having students write

letters home modeled after sample letters. Each week he read several

students' compositions at the Saturday night meetings as examples of very

good or very poor writing.

Blair and Campbell also emphasized memorizing and translating to

gain more advanced writing skills (Berlin Writing 31). They saw imitation and

repetition as keys to the memorization process. Forms of this emphasis were

integrated into Carlisle's programs through the memorization of transcribed

passages and slogans which were recited in unison at the Saturday

meetings. Pratt also used methods correlating to these theories when he had

students trace letters of the alphabet and later words, building up to the

transcription of sentences (Gould 4). It was assumed that these sentences

would be more easily memorized following numerous transcriptions.

Memorized sentences could then be written or recited as a demonstration of

students' language proficiency.

Next, to further develop solid writing skills, Blair had stressed the

importance of drills and exercises as well as the memorization of general

principles. Blair justified these by claiming that the mind could be

Oesch 77

strengthened like "muscles through exercise" accentuating the importance of

frequent practice (Berlin Writing 31 ). Consequently, the use of drills,

exercises, and classroom recitations were customary at Carlisle. In My

People the Sioux, Luther Standing Bear recalled one instance when he was

asked to read a passage for his classmates. He mentioned feeling

uncomfortable as he stood to read this segment. Later this discomfort turned

to embarrassment as he was compelled to repeat the same process seven

times. At that Saturday's meeting, Pratt related this incident to the entire

student body, noting that Luther had read the text without a single error

seven consecutive times.

Regarding writing style, both Blair and Campbell stipulated that

students begin with a focused thesis and write on a narrow subject, not

embarking on broad or general discussions (Blair 86, Campbell 206).

Surviving letters, articles and essays written by Carlisle students strictly

adhere to this model--despite their frequently rough grammatical structures.

Blair then added that teachers were to read and correct the written pieces

and return them to students to be rewritten correctly. This method of

instruction also appears to have been a standard process at Carlisle.

While many of these methods of writing instruction are standard

practices in twentieth-century classrooms, they were relatively new

approaches in the 1800s. For that matter, attempting to educate minorities

was considered a revolutionary concept in Pratt's time and was generally

overseen by religious, rather than governmental, representatives. As argued

in Chapter One, these perspectives were influenced by the work of

Oesch 78

nineteenth-century Scottish educators. In most other countries only clerics,

clergymen, and the upper echelon were thought to have any uses for skills

such as reading or writing (Horner 85). Those who were allowed or could

afford to attend school generally had a basic knowledge of reading and

writing---often in several languages--prior to enrollment. Educators were to

develop and hone these skills through instruction in classical languages,

philosophy and theology (87,88). Teachers relied on lectures, usually

presented in Latin, to advance student's knowledge base. In turn, students

most frequently demonstrated mastery of concepts through oral debates and

defenses (88). In contrast, by the 1700s, Scottish educators had begun

giving lectures in English, supplementing readings with writing assignments,

and incorporating written exams to test students proficiency (87). Their

methodologies set the stage for American educational efforts in the 1800s.

Although this brief glance at educational histories is rudimentary and

overly simplified, it reinforces claims regarding Pratt's adherence to SCSR.

Likewise, it demonstrates that correlations between Scottish educators and

Pratt's curriculum were more than mere coincidence. The fact that other

schools were also incorporating such techniques simply exemplifies the

sweeping acceptance of SCSR in nineteenth-century America. Further,

these connections support the assertion that Pratt's educational experiment

was more than a well scheduled, off-handed epiphany. 20 His proposal

coupled innovative instructional approaches with anthropological, sociological

and educational theories of the 1800s to form a promising solution to the

nation's Indian problem.

Pratt's Compatibility with

Nineteenth-Century Intellectual Movements

Oesch 79

At the forefront of Pratt's innovative ideas were Calvin Woodward's

new theories of manual education. A professor at Washington University in

St. Louis, Woodward's theories espoused the use of vocational training to

instill habits of learning. This included "symmetrical training" that exposed

students to "habits of work and concentration that could be transferred to

academic areas" (Hoxie 68). Pratt believed that labor programs at St.

Augustine proved the benefits of integrating academics with employment

opportunities. He adopted this type of approach providing both industrial and

academic training at Carlisle. The Outing Program, Pratt's most acclaimed

innovation, was gleaned from a culmination of his own belief in cultural

immersion and labor programs compatible with Woodward's theories.

Pratt's memoirs indicate that he also agreed with the theories of

renowned anthropologist, Lewis Henry Morgan. Morgan's theories of social

evolution stated that cultures progressed from savagery to barbarism to

civilization. His theory appears to have stemmed from Locke's tabula rasa

concept. According to Morgan, individuals were born as blank slates and

then encoded through interactions within their societal systems. These

peoples, as a whole, then evolved into more complex societies until

becoming fully civilized. According to Morgan's theory, most Native

Americans had advanced from savagery to barbarism and needed to

progress toward a civilized state or face eminent extinction. Morgan's

categorization of Native Americans as barbarous thereby justified "the idea

Oesch 80

that cruel policies such as removal or punitive warfare were unavoidable

steps along the road to progress" (Hoxie 18). Therefore, government

boarding schools, like the Carlisle Indian School, were seen as a necessary

and inevitable step for Native Americans to become assimilated into "a

civilized society" and, thus, avoid extinction.

Pratt concurred with Locke and Morgan's views noting, "It is a great

mistake to think that the Indian is born an inevitable savage. He is born a

blank, like the rest of us" ("Advantages" 268). He proceeded to express the

importance of "civilized" cultural influences, claiming:

Transfer the infant white to the savage surrounding, he will grow

to possess a savage language, superstitions, and habit.

Transfer the savage-born infant into the surroundings of

civilization, and he will grow to possess a civilized language

and habit. These results have been established over

and over again beyond all question. ("Advantages" 268-269)

Pratt's categorization of Native Americans' cultures as "savage" and white

culture as "civilized" exemplifies his predilection toward social

evolutionary theories. Paradoxically, this ethnocentric view also illustrated

his belief in racial equality.

Throughout his writings Pratt acknowledged the equality of all

humanity citing the Declaration of Independence to validate his claims. He

wrote, "our Constitution forbids that there shall be 'any abridgment of the

rights of citizens on account of race, color, or previous condition"'

("Advantages" 262). His thrust toward equality also lead him to question the

Oesch 81

commissioning of "Negro and Indian" troops, promoting, instead, the

integration of military service"men (7). In the opening chapter of his text,

Pratt noted, "One thing the Major and I discussed freely ... [was] the

fourteenth and fifteenth amendments to the Constitution then pending ...

which affirmed that 'all men are created equal"' (7). Pratt also consistently

affirmed the government's responsibility to promote human rights issues,

including those regarding Native American educational opportunities. 21

Herbert Welsh, the first Chairman of the Board of Indian Commissioners and

founder of the Indian Rights Association, once remarked, "General Pratt was,

in my opinion, the greatest moral force effecting the great change that has

taken place in the minds of our citizens touching the Indians" (D. W. Adams

1, 9; Prucha Americanizing 277).

Pratt's championing of civil rights issues was also in keeping with post­

Civil War sentiments. Many abolitionists had turned their attentions to Indian

rights issues following the War. Harriet Beecher Stowe was among those

supportive of Pratt's work. Stowe assisted with efforts to educate the

prisoners at St. Augustine during her winter stay near Fort Marion (Pratt

Battlefield 154-155). 22

Pratt's perspectives were not only compatible with Woodward's,

Morgan's and nineteenth-century notions of equality, but with the spread of

Calvinism that accompanied the great revivals of the Eighteenth and

Nineteenth Centuries. As a Presbyterian minister, Pratt himself was a

proponent of Calvinistic doctrines. The complimentary nature of SCSR and

Calvinism also seemed to meld with concepts of manifest-destiny, as noted

Oesch 82

earlier. Pratt's assertion, "Inscrutable are the ways of Providence" was

indicative of SCSR and Calvinism's refusal to question the spiritual.

Meanwhile, this assertion espoused the unquestionable inevitability of the

mysteries of God's will. The apparent refusal to question circumstances

(because God was in control of American progress) fed reductionist

tendencies which claimed that all problems could be solved through a healthy

does of Christianity, education or governmental programming.

The naive notion that "for every problem, there is a solution" found tidy

answers through the implementation of "ideologically correct" government

programs. Consequently, when hostile tribes impeded westward progress,

United States troops quelled the resistance. When fighting became too

expensive, treaties insured peace. As expansionists desired Native

American territories, past treaties became cumbersome, so they were

broken. Angry tribes were quieted through interment to relatively small tracts

of land. When officials discovered that the reservations were unsuited for

providing adequate food sources, rations were provided. After reservated

tribes neglected "white man's ways," education was assuredly the key to

assimilation. Simple answers, rooted in manifest-destiny doctrines, promised

quick-fix, sure solutions for the continuing "Indian problem."

By 1890, Pratt's educational project emerged as the embodiment of

the government's new "quick-fix" philosophy. At the root of Pratt's emphasis

was English literacy instruction. Officials claimed that, "English language

capability is fundamental to Indian progress" (Reyhner History of Indian

Education 117). The Board of Indian Commissioners also stated that Indians

Oesch 83

must acquire "our own vernacular [English], the language of the greatest,

most powerful, and enterprising nationalities beneath the sun" (Prucha

Americanizing 200).

English Only Mandates

The BIA teaching manual claimed, "It is evident that the first step in

any program of instruction must be to develop in the children the ability to

speak, understand, and think in the English language" (Reyhner History of

Indian Education 110). As stated in Chapter Two, government regulations

strongly reinforced this point. In fact, the 1887 Commissioner of Indian

Affairs declared:

No books in any Indian language must be used or instruction

given in that language to Indian pupils in any school where this

office had entered into contract for the education of Indians ...

The instruction of Indians in [their] vernacular ... will not be

permitted in any Indian school. .. You will see that this

regulation is rigidly enforced. (Atkins "English" 202).

English only supporters found vindication for their mandates in the

theories of noted ethnologist John Wesley Powell. 23 As the successor of

Lewis Henry Morgan, Powell reportedly set the terms for informed

discussions of Indian affairs in the 1880s. Like Morgan, Powell supported

social evolution and proposed that the debt owed the first Americans could

"be paid only by giving the Indians Anglo-Saxon civilization, that they may

also have prosperity and happiness under the new civilization of this

continent" (Hoxie 24).

Oesch 84

To achieve this purported "happiness," Powell argued that Native

Americans should be separated from "everything most sacred to Indian

society" (Hoxie 24). Thus, his theories justified "the Removal," separating

tribes from their lands; boarding schools, separating children from their

families; compulsory school attendance policies, dictating Native Americans'

educational options; and English only regulations, separating students from

their first language.

SCSR Ties to the English Only Movement

The government's English only mandates may have been influenced

by Campbell's text Philosophy of Rhetoric. Campbell had recognized usage

under three distinct categories: reputable use, national use, and present use.

He also called for a rejection of linguistic impurities and barbarisms (Berlin

Writing 23; Brereton 303). Although Campbell was actually referring to

"incorrect" or "poor" language uses that flourished with the rise of the middle

class when he referenced "barbarisms," his rules appear to have been

inappropriately expanded to include an intolerance for any language other

than English (Brereton 302). Campbell's preoccupation with standard usage

was indicative of Carlisle's classroom methodologies as well as nineteenth­

century proponents of the English only literacy movement.

Many of Pratt's contemporaries also viewed English literacy education

as the key issue influencing Indian assimilation. Thus, numerous political

figures stressed the necessity of absolving Native American languages.

These officials generally emphasized that tribal acceptance of the English

language was a necessary phase for social evolutionary progression.

Oesch 85

The most well documented promoter of "English Only" literacy

education was Commissioner of Indian Affairs, J. D. C. Atkins. He situated

his argument by noting the civilizing forces inherent to the English language:

"The first step to be taken toward civilization, toward teaching the Indians the

mischief and folly of continuing in their barbarous practices, is to teach them

the English language" (Atkins "English Language" 203). He reinforced this

view by claiming, "No unity or community of feeling can be established

among different peoples unless they are brought to speak the same

language, and thus become imbued with like ideas of duty" (Atkins Annual

Report 23). Atkins also noted, "To teach Indian school children their native

tongue is practically to exclude English, and to prevent them from acquiring it"

(Atkins "English Language" 201). He clarified these points by asserting that

"their barbarous dialect should be blotted out and the English language

substituted" (198-99).

Likewise siding with Atkins and other cultural evolutionists, Pratt

assumed it was for the greater good of these indigenous peoples to be freed

from "savagery" through language instruction. Pratt's rationale for

emphasizing English literacy education appears to have been based on his

encounters with warring tribes during his western military campaigns. In an

early experience with the plains tribes, he observed that an intertribal peace

had occurred among the "linguistically connected" Pawnee and Witchita

tribes (Battlefield 99). If Pratt had applied the inductive method to his

observation, he would have concluded that linguistic connections played a

Oesch 86

role in the allied relationship between Indian nations. Therefore, he may

have inferred that language similarities preceded peaceful cohabitation.

On another campaign, Pratt had recognized "Comanche" as the "court

language of our southwest Indians" (10). His recollection of the experience

implied that the camaraderie instilled by this common language provided an

avenue for peace talks and a bond which led to confederations and unified

tribes. Whether or not this was actually the case cannot be determined from

the remaining documentation. However, the concept that a common

language promoted peaceful cohabitation was implicit in his earliest

educational venture with the prisoner-students at St. Augustine. Pratt noted

of this endeavor:

Promoting English speech was among the earliest and most

persistent of our efforts in order to bring the Indians into best

understanding and relationship with our people. (Battlefield 121)

This passage itself insinuates that the acquisition of English speaking

capabilities would ease tensions by instilling an "understanding" of

euroamerican and speeding peaceful "relationships."

Regardless of the root of Pratt's philosophy, he plainly stipulated the

value of English education in his earliest Carlisle recruiting trip. Pratt had

thus admonished Spotted Tail while visiting the Rosebud Agency:

Your ignorance against the white man's education will more and

more hinder .and restrain you and take from you ... as long as

you are so ignorant and unable to attend to your own affairs.

(Battlefield 223)

Oesch 87

Note, first of all, that Pratt labeled Spotted Tail, Chief of the Burle

Sioux, "ignorant" because he was unable to speak or write English. In this

instance, literacy equaled competency. This comments on the tendency of

"literate" peoples to create the criteria used to determine what constitutes

"literacy" and to deem those outside of these criteria as uneducated or "ignorant."

Valuing Literate over Oral Cultures

In his essay "Literacy, Orality, and the Functions of Curriculum,"

William A. Reid recognizes the ongoing conflict between notions of literacy

and orality. He demonstrates the tendency of "literate" groups to define

reality in literacy-based, objectified terms whereby oral perspectives are

undermined and a connection is established between "levels of attainment in

literacy and access to positions of authority" (13-15). Donald Rothman notes

that colonial figures often "express the naive belief that literacy in and of itself

will be liberating" (123). Pratt blindly adhered to the notion that literacy was

liberating, not only from "ignorance," but also from poverty and discrimination.

Pratt told Spotted tail:

Cannot you see that it is far, far better for you to have your

children educated and trained as our children are so that they

can speak the English language, write letters, and do the things

which brings to the white man such prosperity, and each of them

be able to stand for their rights as the white man stands for his?

(Battlefield 223).

In this passage it becomes more evident that Pratt embraced a world view in

which the "literate claim authority to set the terms of survival and success"

Oesch 88

(Knoblauch 75). Therefore, Pratt equated literacy with freedom, power,

salvation, and success.

Second, note the direct correlation between education and literacy.

This line of thinking assumed that all those who were educated would acquire

literacy skills and thus overcome "ignorance." By supporting such notions,

Pratt promoted' a "pernicious half-truth" substantiating the unquestionable

importance of literacy in "absolutionist and ethnocentric terms" (Knoblauch

75). In his essay "Literacy and the Politics of Education," C. H. Knoblauch

recognizes the inclination of early educators to "sacrifice the humanizing

understanding that life can be otherwise than the way we happen to know it"

(75). Pratt is a prime example of unevaluated prejudice toward others based

on his own culturally laced notions of literacy.

Many Americanized notions of literacy included ideals of proficiency

that required thinking in English as well as speaking English. Numerous

politicians, educators and philanthropists forwarded this concept of English

literacy proficiency. At Carlisle, Pratt too accentuated the importance of

thinking in English. He stated that one of the primary goals of the outing

program was to compel his students "to think in English" ('Way Out" 274).

Other educators concurred with this ambition.

John Simon stated, "There is a close connection between the ability to

think and the ability to use English correctly" (340). Simon added the

following rationale for his claim: "The person who does not respect words and

their proper relationships cannot have much respect for ideas--very possibly

cannot have ideas at all" (344). Due to ethnocentric views compatible with

Oesch 89

Simon's ideas about language, English proficiency remained a primary issue

in government mandates regulating early Native American education.

English Only Conflict

Ironically, the government's "English only" mandate was in conflict with

nineteenth century educational research. Secretary of Interior Schurz had

been notified that Alfred L. Riggs, a successful administrator, was "of the

opinion that first teaching the children to read and write in their own language

enables them to master English with more ease" (Report of the Board of

Indian Commissioners 77). Consequently, Riggs promoted bi-lingual

instructional approaches. Many educators agreed with Riggs stressing that

successful teachers learned native tongues (Reyhner History of Indian

Education 49).

The Friends of the Indians also debated the English only mandate.

The use of native languages in the classrooms was the central issue at the

1887 Lake Mohonk Conference. These philanthropists determined that

instructions given in "Indian" were essential to teaching English. It was noted

that most instructors "use the [native] vernacular to teach the English, to

convey the idea of good English." One representative asserted, "How are

you going to teach the Indian the word 'soul' or 'God' or 'heaven,' or any

invisible thing without it? ... you have to use the native language to convey

the idea" (Proceedings 100). Yet despite such notable opposition,

government mandates stood firm.

Just four years following Rigg's plea to Schurz, J. D. C. Atkins ignored

the voices of educators and philanthropic groups with this beguiling remark:

Oesch 90

"So far as I am advised, there is no dissent [regarding English only

mandates] either among the lawmakers or the executive agents who are

selected under the law to do the work" ("English" 199). This tendency to

reject conflicting evidence and publish only complimentary information was

telling of the bureaucratic system that flourished under what Pratt termed "a

permanent double-headed Bureau oligarchy" (Pratt Battlefield 293). Thus,

English only mandates continued well into the twentieth century.

Repercussions of English Only Mandates

Possibly the most devastating repercussion of language restrictions

was the silencing of Native American school children. Research suggests

that students-including those at Carlisle--may have spent years in virtual

silence due to three major factors. First, they kept silent to avoid corporal

punishment for speaking in their native tongue. Second, they were afraid of

being humiliated for misusing the English language. In many tribes, jeering

laughter was more insultingly detrimental than harsh words or physical

altercations. Third, silence may have provided a subversive avenue for

rejecting the "white man's" education. In her research of Indian school

children, Janice Gould has concluded that students "actively and passively

resisted the process of forced assimilation" (10). One could only imagine the

dismay of the school teacher who received the following poem from her Native

American pupil:

If I do not believe you The things you say Maybe I will not tell you That is my way

Maybe you think I believe you That thing you say, But always my thoughts stay with me My own way.

(D. W. Adams 231)

Oesch 91

Students may have relied on such subversive uses of English to maintain

their own identity while enduring massive de-culturation efforts.

English Literacy Education--A Politically Situated Entity

In Right to Literacy, Beth Daniell notes that "the use of language and

literacy generally tells us more about the social and political relations in a

particular situation" than do the progressive claims of national leaders

(192). Therefore, careful examination of Pratt's uses of English literacy

training should provide insights into other complex, motivating factors. To

begin, correlations between Pratt and more widely recognized proponents of

literacy education may prove enlightening.

Pratt's recognition of literacy education as the key to assimilation was

similar to that of Joseph Stalin who was born in the year of Carlisle's

conception, 1879. Stalin's educational model positioned literacy education as

a systematic program to homogenize the indigenous population. Stalin used

literacy to promote "massive industrialization and forced collectivization, a

tool in the creation of a centralized state, rather than a means of human

liberation" (Daniell 192).

Pratt's use of English education had been founded on much the same

purpose, to create a homogenized society. His approach was threefold.

Pratt's first goal was to end inter-tribal hostilities. He suggested, "Schools

should put all tribes together to destroy antagonism" (Prucha Americanizing 226).

Oesch 92

Once tribal differences had been resolved, he wanted to decimate tribal

identities. Pratt and J. D. C. Atkins were in total agreement on this point.

Atkins stated, "The object of greatest solicitude should be to break down the

prejudices on tribes among the Indians; to blot out the boundary lines which

divided them into distinct nations, and fuse them into one homogenous mass"

("English" 199). Atkins added, "Uniformity of language will do this-nothing

else will." This mass, homogenized through a common language, English,

could then be labeled "Indian" rather than continuing tribal differentiations.

The third step in Pratt's plan went one step beyond Atkins'. Pratt

wished to assimilate all'"lndians" into euroamerican society. Consequently,

Native American cultural differences could be absorbed into the "great

American melting pot." The oppressive reality which was institutionalized

through his efforts-including Carlisle, the outing system, and a network of off­

reservation boarding schools-is especially ironic in light of his professed

intentions to liberate these indigenous peoples.

Politically Charged Notions of Literacy

Pratt also neglected to reflect on how "literate" systems were

perpetuated. Knoblauch states that concepts of literacy are politically

charged and reaffirmed by fellow "literate" participants. He states:

People who are measured positively by the yardstick of literacy

enjoy their privileges because of their power to choose and

apply that instrument on their own behalf, not because of their

point of development or innate worthiness. (75)

Oesch 93

Pratt, on the other hand, believed firmly in his "innate worthiness." Verified

by his standing as a literate American, a military officer and a Presbyterian

minister, he seemed to have been unaware of the oppressive, imperialistic

agendas at work in the midst of his "benevolent" scheme. 24

Two other basic questions Pratt neglected to consider were his notions

of liberty and freedom. Consumed by a thoroughly Americanized world view,

Pratt did not see that his idea of freedom differed dramatically from those of

recently conquered Indians. He neglected to grasp simple correlations

between past events and the Indians' current plight. For example, Pratt could

have found similarities between eighteenth-century America and the Indians'

right to educate their own children. After the liberation of the confederate

states from English rule, colonists' desired to express their freedom through

divergent forms of education, government, and commerce. Likewise,

Scotland fought viciously to maintain educational autonomy. Why would Pratt

have thought that Native Americans should have been any different in their

desire for educational independence? Pratt's lack of critical reflection upon

such examples-as well as his unreflective notions of literacy--heaped

intellectual enslavement on the very people he sought to liberate.

Further, the curriculum incorporated by Pratt at Carlisle cultivated the

devaluing of Native Americans' oral systems. Reid notes this intrinsic link

between 'literate' behavior and [school] curriculum." He states,

Oesch 94

The work of the curriculum, then, is not to introduce to modernity

those who would otherwise lack the ability to make sense of

their world, buy actively to destroy, or at least severely modify,

the cultural and intellectual resources they [the illiterate] already

possess. (15)

Pratt boldly affirmed his intentions to use Carlisle's curriculum to fulfill just

such a purpose. In fact, Pratt's motto "Kill the Indian in him, and save the

man" suggested his desire to decimate every trace of "lndianness"--albeit oral

traditions or hair styles--from his students ("Advantages" 261). Pratt then

decidedly clarified, "Carlisle has always planted treason to the tribe and

loyalty to the nation at large" (Battlefield 268). This "loyalty" included

acceptance of white man's education and "Americanized" notions of literacy.

Knoblauch asserts, "The concept of literacy is embedded, then, in the

ideological dispositions of those who use the concept, those who profit from

it, and those who have the standing and motivation to enforce it as a social

requirement" (Knoblauch 74). Consequently, Pratt's concept of literacy was

tellingly revealed through his curricular focus on English instruction and his

willingness to divisively separate children from their cultural heritage.

Evidence reveals that Pratt supported an ethnocentric, Americanized view of

literacy which devalued difference-linguistic or cultural--and sought to create

a homogenized nation, "Under God with liberty and justice for all" (that is, "all"

who conformed to his social outlook). The question then. resurfaces, what

was Pratt's social outlook and how can his educational practices shed light on

the systematic nature of his agenda?

Oesch 95

In the Introduction to this thesis, Kaestle was quoted as challenging

researchers to examine the ideologies of school reformers. It is ironic, then,

that his essay "Ideology and American Educational History" sheds light on the

dominant ideology, or social outlook, to which Pratt appears to have ascribed­

traditional, Protestant ideologies.

Traditional, Protestant Ideologies

The socio-political strains and advancements of 1800s "set the stage

for the rise of systematic (political, moral, economic) ideologies" (Geertz

"Ideology" 64). The most prevalent of these ideologies in the nineteenth­

century was what Kaestle termed traditional, Protestant ideology. As

examined in Chapter One, traditional, Protestant ideology "centered on

republicanism, Protestantism, and capitalism" creating a system that stressed

the ideals of individualism, societal morality, and economic prosperity

(Kaestle 127). Kaestle stressed that these three sources of belief were so

tightly fused that those who questioned any aspect of this "blessed trinity"

were accused of undermining the entire system (128). Therefore, Pratt's

inability to reflexively evaluate his educational plan may be attributed to the

very nature of traditional, Protestant ideology.

In his essay "Official English: Another Americanization Campaign,"

Joseph Leibowicz points out:

Because language issues can easily be loaded with otherwise

unsavory or unacceptable agendas, elements of the

Americanization movement were able to transfer language from

a shield against linguistic chaos into a sword against

nonlinguistic difference as well (107).

Oesch 96

Leibowicz continues, "The apparent solicitude for the national language

exhibited by many Americanizers was a mask for racial, economic, and

political hostility toward users of other tongues." So, in keeping with

traditional, Protestant ideology, the Americanizers' promotion of English

education included presuppositions regarding capitalism and republicanism.

Consequently, education was not an end in itself; but, as Secretary of Interior

Schurz stated, "Education for patriotic American citizenship" (7).

Likewise, Pratt's acceptance of English only education agendas was

dramatically infused with "Americanized values" consistent with traditional,

Protestant ideology. Leslie and James Milroy attribute the political factors

inherent to literacy education to the nature of language, noting that "language

is embedded in a social matrix" (51). This implies that concepts of language

usage are also rooted in societal expectations. Milroy and Milroy proceed to

note that societies, such as Pratt's, may equate a decline in proper usage

with a "sliding morality" (53). In fact, this appears to have been indicative of

Pratt and other nineteenth-century educators who were so wrapped up in

traditional, Protestant ideology that they equated speaking English with

embracing Christianity, capitalism, and U.S. citizenship.

Regarding this "sliding morality," in the essay "Ideology and

Discontent," David E. Apter notes that the "vaguest of ideologies can be

made to shine in the reflected glow of moral indignation" (16). America's

traditional, Protestant ideology was no exception. Accordingly, many

Oesch 97

reformers, including Pratt, despised "savage" languages, communal cultural

practices, "heathenish" religions, and "primitive" traditions.

Proponents of this ideology responded most indignantly to the

communal cultures indicative of Native American tribes. "The Indian must be

imbued with the exalting egotism of the American civilization so that he will

say 'I' instead of 'we' and 'this is mine' instead of 'this is ours"' (Atkins

"English" 200). The purpose of this "egocentric" focus was to promote

capitalistic ventures. In fact, manifest-destiny dogma promoted this idea that

God had ordained capitalism. Merrill E. Gates, President of Amhurst College

and a member of the Board of Indian Commissioners in 1884, stated, "Nay by

rations dealt out whether needed or not ... we have taken from the

compelling instruction that grows out of [God's] laws, 'if a man will not work,

neither shall he eat!"' (47). Henry L. Dawes concurred claiming that whites must,

Take [the Indian] by the hand and set him upon his feet, and

teach him to stand alone first, then to walk, then to dig, then to

plant, then to hoe, then to gather, then to keep. The last and the

best agency of civilization is to teach a grown up Indian to keep.

(Dawes 29)

Here Dawes clearly associated the concept of "keeping" with capitalistic

ventures such as farming, land ownership, and financial savings.

Many euroamericans also despised tribal religious practices and other

"heathenish" ways. Moreover, this self-righteous indignation fueled concepts

of moral superiority. Reformers flaunted the superiority of new ideas over

tribal "oral" traditions by constructing a utopic vision of the future. This vision

Oesch 98

insured total assimilation, whereby peace and prosperity in the nurturing

womb of an industrial paradise were promised to those who would conform to

"American" ways.

Pratt situated himself as a prophetic messenger of this promise to the

lndians--hence his recognition as the "Red Man's Moses" (Eastman). He

vowed to lead them from the savage wilderness into a land flowing with the

milk and honey of capitalistic progress. Pratt cited a belief in human equality.

and the Declaration of Independence as rationale for these "well intended"

goals. Apter notes that "Ideology helps to make explicit the moral basis of

action" (17). In retrospect, one may assert that traditional, Protestant

ideology fueled Pratt's "moral crusade" to liberate Indians from "the throes of

barbarism." His proposals met the needs of both politicians and

philanthropists while providing a "white-washed" version of hope to Native

Americans. Pratt's plans also offered definitive answers--answers that were

rooted deep in the heart of this developing nation's ideology.

The Ideology of Development

Apter notes that "ideologies employed in development seek to

transcend negativism and to define hope in programmatic terms" (16). Pratt's

Carlisle experiment embodied Apter's description. He confronted the

negatives of war by offering a peaceful solution. He denounced conceptions

of racial inferiority by acknowledging cultural inferiority. He re-channeled

opposition to Native American schooling expenses by noting the cost­

effectiveness of education in contrast to conflict. By so doing, Pratt

transcended much of the "negativism" directed toward Native Americans.

Oesch 99

Pratt then offered hope embodied in "programmatic" terms through off­

reservation, government funded, Native American boarding schools. Pratt

avidly promoted this concept and Carlisle was conceived. Completely

compatible with traditional, Protestant ideology, this project matured giving

birth to a nation-wide network of twenty-five schools modeled after Pratt's

pilot project. For fifteen years Pratt enjoyed the ideological compatibility of

his project to dominant trends. Then, subtly and mysteriously, things

changed. This change signaled more than simple disillusionment with Pratt's

plan, it was indicative of a shift in the ideological posturing of a nation.

The Rise of Current- Traditionalism

Current-Tr~ditionalism followed at the heels of SCSR and seemed to

emphasize the n:iost mechanistic features of Campbell and Blair's work.

Berlin noted that this new rhetoric flourished as most schools began to view

themselves as educating to serve the needs of business and industry.

Therefore, public school _curriculum was devised to meet the individualized

demand for excellence and a capitalistic demand for numbers. Across the

country, trade schools became more prevalent as an alternative for those

less interested in fields requiring post-secondary schooling.

Native American educational programs underwent much the same

phenomenon. The BIA gleaned only the most superficial features from

Pratt's programs to form a new curriculum. This marked the movement from

a holistic instructional approach to a vocational orientation. As this

transformation proceeded, instruction of Native American children in

geography, literature, and the arts was seen as seed sown "on stony ground"

.·

Oesch 100

(Hoxie 194). This stream-line approach may be attributed to the increasingly

mechanistic features of Current-Traditionalism.

Current-Traditionalism was a scientistic approach promoting a

detached, observant method of writing. This implied that writers could

separate themselves from socio-political ties and objectively report "the truth"

from the obvious facts observed. This approach to writing removed the

ethical and most of the emotional issues from the text and focused on an

appeal to reason.

In much the same manner, Indian educators began situating

themselves as educational professionals rather than emotionally invested

crusaders, as Pratt and his peers had professed to be. This new, more

logical approach to Native American education had varying affects on the

Indian school system. First, morality debates seemed to subside as racial

equality issues fell from the spotlight. During this time, many philanthropists

began focusing attention on women's rights, overseas tensions, and alcohol

sales. Almost simultaneously, a resurgence of racism flourished to the extent

that Commissioner of Indian Affairs; Francis E. Leupp, publicly attacked

believers in racial equality (Hoxie 198). Corroborating officials noted that it

was "Nature's work" that the Indian remain a savage and the whites serve as

"lord" (Hoxie 199). Other researchers, professing to have removed ethical

and emotional issues from clouding their perspective, determined that Native

Americans were "hereditarily inferior" (199).

Oesch 101

Consequentially, Current-Traditionalism appears to have had

devastating affects on Native American education. By the early 1900's,

Indian boarding schools no longer focused on blending educational and

vocational instruction, instead specializing in industrial studies. Carlisle was

no exception. English acquisition and vocational training emerged as the

curricular focus; and, by the time it closed in 1918, Carlisle students

specialized only in mechanical trades and apprenticed at the Ford Motor

Company. For years Congress resisted closing the twenty-five schools

modeled after Pratt's plan because they "represented significant economic

boost to the economies of the cities where they were located" (Hoxie 104).

Yet as international military efforts increased, financial support was

transferred from education to war efforts. These, and other, drastic social

changes marked the end of Pratt's domination of Indian educational issues as

well as the end of his career at Carlisle.

Closing Comments

Nineteenth-century Indian educators, including Pratt, and their

methodologies have come under particular scrutiny in recent years. In

retrospect, early Native American educational strategies were intolerant of

difference, overly reductive and inhumanely unjust. The atrocities committed

against the Native American peoples under the guise of government funded

education were appalling. Yet it seems a little too easy to criticize and

condemn these educators from the comfort of a 100 year buffer.

Oesch 102

In lieu of heaping criticism upon criticism, this project purposed to examine

the socio-political and ideological influences that prepared a society to readily

accept Pratt's ethnocentric notions of Indian education.

It would seem unobservant not to notice that the practices Pratt

instituted at Carlisle were in keeping with modern theories of the late 1 BOOs;

or that prevailing ideologies permeated the intellectual atmosphere creating

an environment in which Pratt's proposals would be embraced. Pratt's

educational views also aligned with governmental ambitions to "make [the

Indian] a safe and useful factor in our body politic" (Pratt "Advantages of

Mingling" 35). Further, this thesis affirmed that Pratt's ideas themselves were

embedded in the dominant rhetorical, educational and ideological theories of

his time.

Therefore, critical evaluation of the societal tenets that may open

people to ethnocentric and exclusivist views seem to prove more fruitful than

the simple derailing of voices trapped within these ideologically constructed

frames. While we cannot neglect the injustices brought upon the Native

American peoples by educators like Pratt, examining rhetorical and

ideological components of his educational philosophy can shed light on future

endeavors instead of simply glaring back into the darkness of the past's

atrocities.

Oesch 103

Notes

1 While Scottish schools were studying English literature, Oxford and

Cambridge were concentrating on Greek and Latin studies and deemed

English literature, or folk literature, undeserving of serious consideration.

Cambridge did not introduce an English literature course until 1904.

In contrast, Edinburgh announced William Edmonstone Aytoun as the first

English Literature Department Chair in 1845. Harvard followed suit

presenting Francis J. Child as its first English literature chair in 1876. This

illustrated the American tendency to comply with Scottish educational

trends and implies that these two countries held similar ideological aims

(Horner 86).

2 Horner further asserted, 'When humanists fail to take seriously the

general liberal arts part of their educational program and fail to see rhetoric at

the heart of the arts education, they abrogate their commitment to

democracy" (94).

3 Hume's obsession with emotional appeal went far beyond Locke's

tendency to see the will as the prime motivating force in human nature.

Consequently, Hume's theories were often points of conflict and concern

for the three major proponents of SCSR--Blair, Campbell and Whately. In

fact, Campbell's Dissertation on Miracles was a "treatise designed to

Oesch 104

answer the skepticism of Hume" (Golden 139). Meanwhile, Blair defended

Hume against charges of heresy (Golden 23).

4 Campbell's Philosophy of Rhetoric was composed over a fifteen-year

period. Campbell endured a rigorous composing process including

multiple drafts, submissions to friends, critical responses and numerous

revisions.

s In Brereton's collection, Perry proceeded to note his disdain for

Campbell's stringent grammatical system asserting, "It was an attempt to

cultivate taste by a negative process." He went on to state, "The tone of

this censure is curiously like the red-inked comments of their present-day

[1935] descendants" (302). This also seems to recognize the

foundational structures Campbell created for Current-Traditional rhetoric.

s The term "current-traditional rhetoric" was first coined by Daniel

Fogarty (1959), but it became widely recognized by composition

professionals through the work of Richard Young. His article "Paradigms

and Problems: Some Needed Research in Rhetorical Invention" (1978)

characterized the salient features of current-traditional rhetoric as quoted

on page 31 of Chapter One from Donald Stewart's article.

1 Bain was the first to recognize the paragraph as a small theme,

consisting of an opening introductory sentence, several supporting points,

Oesch 105

and a conclusion (Mulderig 95-97). His "paragraph theory" dates back to

1866, but has influenced modern classrooms as well as modern theorists

(Connors 64). Mulderig notes that "Bain anticipated Frank D'Angelo's

recent comment that the rhetorician must 'relate the structure of thought to

the structure of discourse"' (99). This is a reflection of the psychological

nature of Bain's work. Bain, a renown psychologist, combined theories of

psychology and rhetoric to explore the sequences of mental phenomena

and how these could be traced through writing patterns.

8 The inventio of management was first investigated by Richard

Whately (1787-1863). Whately is often listed along with Campbell and

Blair as a notable influence behind Scottish Common Sense Realism.

He diverted slightly from their stances by reviving Aristotelian rhetoric

including deduction and an amended approach to invention-the inventio of

management. His texts, Elements of Rhetoric (1828) and Elements of

Logic (1826), were widely circulated and served as standard text in many

American writing classrooms through the advent of the twentieth-century.

Logic enjoyed even more popularity than Rhetoric, going into its ninth

edition by 1850. Yet, it was his Rhetoric which gave him fame and

influence (Golden 273). For more information see: Berlin Writing 28-31

(rhetorical theory); Golden 273-276 (concise biography); and WhatelyE/ements of Rhetoric.

Oesch 106

9 During ''the Removal," missionary schools were temporarily suspended

and re-opened in new locations with additional funding from "substantial

treaty annuities" set aside for educational purposes (Evelyn Adams 35).

Many treaties, drafted by the War Department, included clauses requiring

that a portion of the tribal annuities be invested in education. The

Bureau's educational system was borne through the combined efforts of

missionary educators who often served in these schools; the

Commissioner of Indian Affairs; and War Department officials. Funding

for these schools was propagated through treaties mandating the

education of young Indian children.

10 Native American education came to the forefront of BIA concerns in

1870 when $100,000 was budgeted for the development of new schools

(Reyhner History of Indian Education 44 ). This also influenced the 1873

repeal of the Indian Civilization Act which deterred funding to church­

affiliated Indian schools (27). With this repeal, the BIA became

increasingly involved in the direct operation of Native American

vocational education and boarding schools.

11 The possibility of dying within sight of the Atlantic ocean held a special

horror for these Native Americans, many of whom believed that their spirit

had to cross four rivers to get to the "other world." The ocean would have

Oesch 107

posed an insurmountable obstacle to their happiness in the next life

(American Experience).

12 Cutting their hair was especially reprehensible and frightening to the

Cheyennes who saw this as a sign of mourning and death.

13 Henry E. Fritz implied that Pratt did not have a formal strategy for his

educational efforts at St. Augustine. He wrote that industrial training was

provided "in preference to the dullness of simple confinement" (164). Still

others question the impact of the prisoners successes while in Florida on

Pratt's future accomplishments. Evelyn Adams records that Carlisle was

proposed by E. A. Hayt due to "the satisfactory work of the Indians at

Hampton" rather than because of Pratt's instructional or lobbying efforts

(52). But in a letter from Hayt to Pratt he wrote: "You are entitled to the

credit of establishing the School. You found the empty barracks, you got

the consent of the Secretary of War to use them, you fussed around the

Interior Department until you got sufficient steam to propel the enterprise.

You got the children together, in fact did everything but get the money"

(Hoxie 266). This seems to summarize the extent to which Pratt was

responsible for the conception, birth and nurturing of the Carlisle Institute.

14 This fluency of communication between the Department of Interior

(Schurz) and the War Department (Mccrary) may have been symptomatic

Oesch 108

of the militaries' continued involvement in BIA affairs. Even as late as the

1900s, politicians and BIA officials had not addressed the conflict of

interests in the War Department's ties to Native American education. Nor

had they questioned the ethics of placing military personnel in charge of

Native American educational endeavors (Hoxie 56). Political back­

scratching between these two departments carried over well into the

twentieth century.

1s There is contrary evidence as to what party originally claimed, or held to

the claim, that the Carlisle School students would be held hostage for their

parents compliance to government mandates. In his text, Pratt plainly

attributes this to Hyat and the "Indian Bureau administration" (227).

Meanwhile Reyhner, a leading historian in Native American educational

studies, attributes this to Pratt per the 1878 Annual Report of the

Commissioner of Indian Affairs (45). Fritz mediates these claims

by stating that Pratt did not hold the students as prisoners; but that he,

along with his fellow Presbyterians, had simply argued that the

presence of Indian children in the east would predicate the good

behavior of their elders at home (165-66).

1s Luther Standing Bear reported that these names were to be "pointed

out" with a large stick. He also noted that students were not told the

Oesch 109

"meanings" of these names. Although the names were haphazardly

distributed, students could change their name if they were so inclined.

Note the following letter as recorded in Pratfs text:

Dear Captain Pratt: I am going to tell you something about my name. Captain Pratt,

I would like to have a brand new name because some of the girls call me Cornbread and some call me Cornrat, so I do not like that name, so I want you to give me a new name. Now this is all I want to say.

Conrad.

Conrad's request was granted. Pratt included this letter to demonstrate

that he "encouraged their utmost freedom in coming to me at any

time with any of their personal matters" (Battlefield 293).

11 It is important to note that these educators, politicians and

philanthropists assumed that nomadic cultures did not have structure or

that these behaviors and habits were aimless and purposeless. It was

also ironic that those controlling Indian policy determined that "white"

culture was superior to Native American ways. Little, if any, surviving

documentation suggests that nineteenth-century educational or political

figures reflected on assumptions of euroamerican, cultural superiority.

18 Edward Bruner's "Ethnography as Narrative" explores the nature of

ethnographic discourse as story telling, asserting that stories give

meaning to the present as well as congealing a more elusive notion that

the present is the product of "relationships involving the constituted past

Oesch 110

and a future." The two dominant narratives (one viewing the past as

glorious, the new seeing the past as exploitation) provide meaning to the

present in an "ordered syntagmatic system." Bruner also notes that

anthropological stories are representations, not to be confused with

concrete existence. He concludes that stories are not ideologically neutral

and that Native Americans, as well as others, will continually be constructing

new theories reconsidering the past's dominant narrative (139-155).

19 In a video series entitled "The Native Americans" historians

attribute the founding of the unified thirteen colonies to Native American

influences. On July 4, 1744 the Indian Confederacy met with colonial

leaders and "admonished them to make a permanent peace" with one

another so that the tribes could deal with one government. Iroquois Chief

Gana-sedego was recorded as stating, 'We are a powerful confederacy

and by your observing the same methods our wise forefathers have taken

you will acquire much strength and power." Historians recognized that it

may have been a coincidence that the founding fathers decided to form a

confederacy, but stressed the irony of that decision when the colonies

were "surrounded by a sea of confederacies from New England to Georgia."

20 Henry E. Fritz implied that Pratt did not have a formal strategy for

his educational efforts. Fritz wrote that instructional efforts and labor

programs incorporated at St. Augustine were only provided "in preference

to the dullness of simple confinement" (164). Another author, Evelyn

Oesch 111

Adams, suggests that the founding of Carlisle was proposed by E. A. Hayt

rather than Pratt. Adams further directs credit for the founding of off­

reservation Indian schools to Armstrong's work at Hampton rather than to

Pratt's lobbying efforts (52). But in a letter to Pratt, Hayt himself stated,

"You are entitled to the credit of establishing the School" (Hoxie 266).

While Pratt's involvement in the founding of Carlisle may be above

question, the purposeful nature of his pedagogy continues to be

mysteriously understated.

21 Pratt allowed his feelings regarding equality to color every aspect of

his military commission. He recalled a situation where he deemed a black

Private as the "cleanest drilled soldier" which resulted in him being

selected as "orderly" to the commanding officer for the day. Pratt's

commanding officer questioned his judgment in this selection and ordered

him to select a familiar white Private in the future. Pratt questioned, "That

is your order notwithstanding the rules?" He said, "It is." Pratt noted, "But

I was not to execute that order for that night the white soldier deserted.

He could not face the ridicule of his comrades at being beaten by a

Negro" (28-29). This passage seems to be indicative of the extensive

racism Pratt regularly confronted throughout his career.

22 Pratt seemed to record Mrs. Stowe's assistance with teaching effort

as a routine visit. She apparently wintered in St. Augustine and enjoyed

Oesch 112

spending time with Miss Mather (incidentally, he never recorded her first

name), Pratt's chief instructor at St. Augustine and later Carlisle. Pratt

reported an entertaining incident involving Stowe and Mather which

involved a language lesson. While attempting to teach the Indian

prisoners the "th" sound, Mather used the word "teeth." To exemplify this,

she removed her dentures to show them a complete set. The Indians

were horrified and began stating, "Miss Mather is no good"-meaning that

she was defective. Apparently Mather and Stowe found this situation

immensely humorous and shared a hearty laugh (Pratt Battlefield 154-155).

23 Pratt's memoirs note two rather negative encounters with John

Wesley Powell. The first claimed that Powell took credit for archeological

finds excavated by Pratt and his Indian prisoners at a Native American

burial mound near St. Augustine (Battlefield 130-131). The second

recounted Powell's interference with Pratt's display of traditional tribal

habitations at the Columbian Exposition (305). Pratt never directly

referenced Powell's theories in his text, nor did he offer any positive

comments regarding Powell or his work.

24 In his essay, Knoblauch accentuates the importance of recognizing

the social and political conditions that tend to drive notions of literacy. He

continues, "Possessing that understanding, educators in particular ...

may advance their agendas for literacy with somewhat less likelihood of

being blinded by the light of their own benevolence to the imperial designs

that may lurk in the midst of their compassion" (75). Knoblauch's

Oesch 113

observations add compelling insight into Pratt's notions of literacy

education. Because Pratt did not question social or political roles of

literacy agendas, he fell prey to an inappropriate vision of his own work,

whereby he saw himself as a selfless servant of the Indian peoples.

Oesch 114

Appendix A

Table of United States Government Officials, 1877-1920

Secretary Commissioner Superintendent Government

President of the of Indian of Indian Legislation/

Interior Affairs Schools Indian Educ.

I E. A. Hayt 1870- $100,000

""'" Rutherford Appointed 1877 budgeted for Native

""'" American (NA) co B. Hayes Carl Schurz -1880- lndustrtal Schools ....

I E. M. Marble Acting Commissioner 1871- Treaty

making period ends James A. S.J. Hiram Price

I Garfield Kirkwood -1882-1879- Carlisle .... Indian School co (Position Created: founded by co lnspectoroflndian .... -1881- -1881- -1881- R. H. Pratt

I Education) Chester A. Henry M. Hiram Price J. J. Haworth 1882- Unoccupied

Arthur Teller military facilities approved for NA

John H. Oberly boarding schools

I L. Q. c.

J. D. C. Atkins 1887- Dawes Act in Grover Lamar -1886- (heralded as the co John B. Riley "Indian's Magna Carta") co Cleveland ....

-1888-I -1888- 1890- Federal -1888-W. F. Villas John H. Oberly

S. H. Albro tuition offered to public schools educating NAs

I uame1 1892- Compulsory en Benjamin John W. ThomasJ. Dorchester co attendance of NA co Harrison Noble Morgan schools approved ....

I

uamel 1892- Federal

teachers placed in

Hoke Smith Dorchester Civil Service

I D.M. M Grover en Browning -1894- 1894- Prohibited co Cleveland sending NA stu-.... -1896- W. N. Hailman I dents out-of-state

D. R. Francis without parental consent (outlawed

vv.1'1. nanman withholding rations I to gain consent)

""'" William C. N. Bliss W.A. en co McKinley Jones -1898- 1895- NA students .... Estelle Reel can't be moved from I -1899-

E.A. school to school

without parental or Hitchcock student consent

I ..... 0 en .....

I

I II) 0 en .....

I

I en 0 en .....

I

I CW) ..... en "';'

I

""'" ..... en .....

I

Oesch 115

Table of United States Government Officials, 1877-1920 continued

President

William

McKinley

-1901-

Theodore

Roosevelt

Theodore

Roosevelt

William H.

Taft

Woodrow

Wilson

Woodrow

Wilson

Secretary of the

Interior

E.A.

Hitchcock

Hitchcock

Hitchcock

-1907-

James R. Garfield

Richard A.

Ballinger

-1911-

Walter L. Fisher

Franklin K.

Lane

Franklin K. Lane

Commissioner Superintendent Government of Indian of Indian Legislation/ Affairs Schools Indian Educ.

W.A. Estelle Reel 1901-Reel

introduces voca-Jones tionally oriented

curriculum

Jones Reel 1904- Pratt retired

1909-White children approved to attend

NA boarding schools Francis E. Estelle Reel if pay tuition

Leu pp Leupp's Motto:

Individualize and Specialize brought

"assembly-line" mentalilytoNA

schools

1916- Uniform Robert Harvey Peairs course of study

Valentine introduced at all federal NA schools

Undersells, Carlisle specialized in

mechanical trades and apprenticed students to the Ford Motor Co

Harvey Peairs 1917-Carlisle Cato Sells closed for use as a

World War I hospital base

April 23, 1924-Pratt died

1924- Curtis Act granted citizenship

Cato Sells to all NA

Until 1929 NA languages, dress

and hair styles were forbidden ingovn.

schools (Macgregor117)

JtUJl.,et~~~.,~ '~@;~t!i!~ ' ' ''•· •,

·. ', ., ' .

1 ~=-

"··' $ociq .. Poli~ical,'F~ct9rs !nfluencing, the Carlisle' ln'dian, ·s~hc;>o_I' "'o -••'-- •• ~• ·---''-'"1~~ ';o•- •~'•• n o ·"--· .,. '"''" ''"".1,..-,-1'.-I•

Carlisle Indian School

1879-Car1!slefounded by General Richard H. Pratt with 138 students from four tribes (84 Sioux from the Rosebud and Pine Ridge Reservations) Pr&!l'alherre:KMfhtJ~ht6n&S-lheAfaol

Outing System Instituted- lmlmtse NAh ~cutllnendhold'll'lem6-llrlillhey­tbomugNy~(Pratt335).

1890-0ver1,000studentsattended Cartisle-;."17-pnignt1H ottt.o pupil1 • •• ta~ ~fllanhdllycr:hools. TMdtirchnbeq, tr--1 &t:rm the idle and cotrUplinf1 habb al URglll home• - - •Nily lildlo lldoptthe ~ oldt.tliud life end lnapltwd'""' .... lDAlam"-Socd otlmian Commluloners ..._..,_ By 1001-Educators at Carlisle -no longerworked to transfonnthe children who mrived there• and began concentrating efforts on English literacy Instruction and the training of factorywortersand fanners (Hoxie 194,Frilz.164-168).

1694-CommlsslonerHallmann developed new a.miculum to•replace schoolroom pedantry"with•reaflyvltal wo111.•(Hoxie190),

Pratt'sReslgnationduetodisagree­mentswithlegislatorsregan:ling interdisciplin81)'educationofstudents vs. the move lO exduslvelylechnical Ins-Carlisle specialized In mechanical trades and apprenticed students to the FordMo!orCompany(Hoxle204).

191S-Csr1isleclosed/usedasanAmrj rehabllllationciteforveteransofWN1

' '·' . :Goverllmentaih

'Legisliltion 1&40. Bureau oflndlari Affliirs (BIA) transferred from War Dept io the· qep~Of'l!Jterfoi

1870-$100,000bUdgetediorNative Am_encah (NA)_llidUsbiiil-SchoO!_S ·1.871.._treafyni8k1n'gp8d0deri_ds_' --~ ; ,

,_:- - - . ·- ' _,

.1s8o- Maldate:M instructiOn or NA· StudS_ritSatQ:Ovemr:nenttiuideci • ' ", schools must be In Eilglish_

"Ai•pvage wiicMtnot~hbri(Nlltlvil ~JllllYmin ll'IM• bJkMliz«J ,.,. •. ~°"'~ u.-oni)' 11tema1Mletrl1totithlmby~trl

-.~~::..1~ BOantQflndlan Cornrrduion-: . '

:18oo.Fed~tiillionoffe~;p~~1-1c: '. ,,sch~s~U~tinli_,,NA~~eRts. <. ·:, ~ .:. 1e91~T.J;Morgan.C~1Ssioi4~r0t_ ~ lndJan Alfairs(CIA), initiated public ' Sc:hoollnteilration ~mpts-tai1~

1892-CompulsoryatteridSn~ofNA , schoolsapproved&enforced/ FEider811yfundedt€iachersPl~ln!he CilliJ8_,ervice

-, a94-Prohibited seridiilg NA studeflts · out-of.statewilhouiparental cOnsenif. .·Ou11aWedihewithho1~1ng ofretto'1Sto gain consent/by 1895-NAstudCnts couldnOiongerbetransfener'~ _ school to school withoutpatental or s!udentcon'sent -

191 a.;: Unlfonn course of Study ·introduced at all federall)'funded NA ,Sc:hoOls ·.-

Rhetorical Theory

Scottish Common Sense Realism: AltelllJ!ed to take kilo account d npedD of tuman behnlor-CheCORllOI)' mid l'llllonlll, !he dllcal, mid the eesltletlct cdohaed the 'total pe19«1;yetlhe llbove •tll~ feculds. weremedlaftcally concelved:fheyllrl~ lndependenlly of each oCher (62)

Romantic Rhetoric: Dmlocn11c rhetcric perauaslvdypreserrts truth (!.O).'the lhetar offen Ille whaleneu oflhe cialec:tical produc:tofldee and experience~ cmcrete uae of metaphor (51)1 Emfnon's rhetoric fll ~ <ialecticul(53)

Current-Traditlonal:Ac:ceptedthe meclmnls!lc facul!y psydlology, but JelTIO'o'Od elhlcal and 1111 but the nmst elemenlmy emodonal conslderalon tom the concem of rhelodcl Rhetork's Mlle mppeal 13 to undentllnd end reaonl hll1lest lllll'lllestallon bind In upollllon end ~wrlldc cirty 13 lo rid eelf of !he ~ of~lllatlhtar'lpercepllona­mi obfec!lve, detached obcenter(63)

NewRomantlcismf An affemetlve view: Rhelodc,kllheory llndpqdlce, must be balled one hol!&!IG recponse, k1volvlng !he total person, the elhlcel end •nlheUc: 1111 Wdll91her..tioo.i(Bt)

Theorists

Geolgec.m,.;.,o HUgh Blair • RJchard\Nhat01y

RalflhW!!lc!O~merson

· Adams sh~.Tnan Hii1-H~Mml BarrettV'leiidell-HarvaRI John Fraf1kllf1 Gooung~Amherst ,

• Fted~ewton$Cott..~_,;pe;ii6;~' .ntNn'o.pMo~&trumnol~ ~.w11(71) , J~phVdlemDeiiney GertrUdeBuck

.

We have wasted Paradox and Mystery on you, when all you wanted was Cause and Effect."

Christopher Fry

Other Influences

HenryTeller,Seaetaryoflnterlor 1882-85,promotedbeHefintheequily of-mankind" yet, paradoxically, noted !hat NAs should be •compelled to enter ourdvlllzation whetherhewitlor ... wllls It nor (Hoxie 52).

J. D. C. Atidns, Commissioner of Indian Affairs 1885-88, asserted "'the main purpose of educating them (Native Americans)wastoenablelhemtoread, wrile,andspeaktheEnglishlanguage:

Reformsympathlzer\/VilnamStrong advised that NA •should notmalnlaln thelrownlanguage.•

Educator/Administrator Alfred L. Riggs notified Secretary Schurz, "First teaching the children lO read and write In their own language enables !hem lO master English with more ease:

Calvin Woodward : His theory of manualeducatlonadvocated-sym­mebical training•exposlng students to 'habils of WOik and concen!rallon that could betrailsferred to academic areas• (Hoxle6B).

By 1901" lnslructlon of NA students In literature and the arts seen as •seed sown on stony ground" (leupp 194).

0. Oesc:WCCCC 19961L19/ PM5.0

Oesch 117

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